28th December
Day 4 of the Octave of Christmas
Christ the Lord is born today;
today, the Saviour has appeared.
Earth echoes songs of angel choirs,
archangels’ joyful praise.
Today on earth his friends exult.
Glory to God in the highest, alleluia.
12 Days of Christmas Carol:
On the fourth day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me four Turtle Doves: The Four Gospels
Poem: Luci Shaw – “Kenosis”
In sleep his infant mouth works in and out.
He is so new, his silk skin has not yet
been roughed by plane and wooden beam
nor, so far, has he had to deal with human doubt.
He is in a dream of nipple found,
of blue-white milk, of curving skin
and, pulsing in his ear, the inner throb
of a warm heart’s repeated sound.
His only memories float from fluid space.
So new he has not pounded nails, hung a door
broken bread, felt rebuff, bent to the lash,
wept for the sad heart of the human race.
__________
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The featured image is “Embroidered hanging depicting the Nativity” (1945), by Ann Macbeth. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
