christmas poem 2010

In this godforsaken world
a word is spoken
and it is good,
and in the fullness of time
that word becomes flesh
and it is real,
a vulnerable unborn child
brought safely to term,
a frightened refugee family
led by the spirit to sanctuary.

The promises are realized:
a child is born, for us;
a son is given to us
and again, in the fullness of time
his birth becomes our rebirth,
an outward and visible sign
of an inward and spiritual grace.

His mother holds all of this
deep within; she knows all too well
that in the fullness of time
the crèche will be dismantled,
transformed into a cross,

laid upon us, this gift, a reminder
of the ancient future instructions:

to repair the broken cisterns,
to restore the crumbling foundations,
to repeat the sounding joy.

(khc)