The Birth of God...A Poem

 

 

In a stable, long ago, God is born,

a baby in a manger, making all life

new again.  A dying world must be reborn,  

made clean and true as the babe itself.

 

A star must appear, more luminous

than any other.  Shepherds know it means

momentousness, no ordinary night

with such a shining orb.  Heaven and earth

are bright with music and with life, joy and light,

angel wings like cellos in the starry night.

 

Three magi -- wise-men, priests, astrologers --

hearing of the young God's birth, transforming

all things old, commence their journey

to find this precious source, urged on

by the large and lovely star.  Camels

  bear the wise-men, steady in their gait

  on desert sands that must be crossed

to gain the bright oasis of the soul.  

The faithful camels, too, through days and nights

  toward Bethlehem, seek the stable set by star.

 

The wise-men carry gifts in reverence

of the young God's genius, dignity,

His purpose to resurrect himself, the world;

  gold is symbolic of His royalty.

They pass over hills through silent flocks of sheep,

the night sky throbbing with angelic hosts.

Spirits tell that God is born anew,

all life blessed with primal energy;

meaning and significance restored,

  retrieved by blessing of the truth.

 

Shepherds, wise-men, laborers in the fields,

hearts made full, saved by God from fruitlessness.

All raise their voices in joyous cries, lift

their eyes to see the star, flocking angels

exult in great gratitude.  Heaven, earth,

all nature, sing in exaltation.

 

In the simple stable lies the shining God,

in form of babe newborn, wrapped in cloth so white,

garbed in light, attended by His mother

and His father, servants of divinity.

He is both infant innocence and conscious

center of the world, regenerator

of life, purity of truth and being.

 

The stable is a homely, welcome place,

comforting with softly lowing cows

and gentle donkey that, before His birth,

had borne His mother there.  The warm bodies  

   of the cattle, the hay, their chewing cud,

straw composting on the stable floor, express God's

  fecund nature, gifts of life and inspiration.

 

The new God, born in such elemental setting

-- a tree in fertile soil -- is life itself renewed.

This is felt by all, whether or not they

understand its subtleties.  They know timeless

simplicity, significance.  They witness

in daily life, through their generations,

the seamless rhythms of the earth...

   the birth of men, the birth of plants;

growth, harvest, death; the birth of Gods.

 

Astronomers, too, in the movements of stars,

  know immense, rolling worlds, the creation

  of God, who, even in His mightiness,

  must, like His universe, be born again

  for the sake of men, as a radiant child

in a manger.  The wise-men find the stable,

  glowing with holy light from double doors

  and windows.  No lantern ever made such light.

 

  Leaving their camels to gaze at the sky,

   they see a molten flame that is the babe.

He is magnificence, unfiltered glory,

a bit of the great God, an infant

  yet a savior, near his mother, father;

  donkey, hay and cows; rude, unpainted wood

  of stall and timbers that receive the blessing

  of His luminosity, casting shadows

in the hollows of this simple, holy place.

 

  Wise-men kneel with shepherds, stations high and humble

  melded in the moment of transcendence,

  realize the rebirth of the world

  focused in the infant God, bringing joy

  and understanding of the unity of man,

all things on earth.  Camels mingle with the sheep,

  as if they, too, sense, in awe, the wonder of this night.

 

  The three wise-men place their gifts before Him,

    Jesus Christ, Son of God,

   born to Mary in a simple setting;

   Savior of the World.

 

 

Copyright by Don Gray