Nativity – a Christmas poem by Paul McCafferty

Planets aligned. A prophecy long told
began unfolding. Three Priestly Kings
or were they Emmisarys? Emerged
from hinterlands. They followed an
ordained route, a star, a comet, all
three? A young couple, both aware
yet unaware traversed from somewhere
to somewhere else.
As we all must know, it was arduous.
We have our ambulances, our birthing
rooms, our clinics fresh with disinfectants,
antisepticts. They, had one another.
A donkey bore her weight.
The Hotels were Choc full.
Receptionists brittle, in keepers cruel.
A stable gate opened. She took bed
on the hay. Cattle continued in their
Cattle ways. Hens no doubt, just
clucked about pecking contendly.
And the sheep, being sheep, probably munched
with barely a bah bah a meh meh or a bleet.
She, being merely human, must have cried,
strained, groaned, sighed in merely human agonies.
Don’t they say that Greatness comes at the
end of the harshest roads. The young virgin
no doubt, had her tears wiped tenderly away.
In her arms, the infant saviour lay.
His sweet cries filled the cold night sky.
Stark, the bright stars, all blinking
as if in awe or disbelief.
And those three high Priests on hearing,
filed in. Each nodding in benediction.
With blessings, blessings, blessings.

Paul McCafferty (December, 2013)

Inside - a Christmas story by Shaunagh Jones
Christmas Casualties by Stephen Watt

This section: Christmas Poems , Stories and Winter Tales

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Avatar of PatByrne Publisher of Pat's Guide to Glasgow West End; the community guide to the West End of Glasgow. Fiction and non-fiction writer.

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