CHRISTMAS POEM 2024

CHRISTMAS POEM 2024

Bruises on the newborn’s flesh   Now see the lonely place of birth

                The tender baby cries The haunt of sheep and cows

Like violet lesions on His back   A foretaste of that blood-teared grove

                That marks the day He dies. Where God abandoned bows.

Natal blood on infant’s brow A feeding trough His sunken bed

                Reminder of the day An emblem of the grave

While regal thorns will pierce His skull Whence springs His flesh, the bread of life

                Adored in mocking way. God’s nourishment to save.

The crib betrays those newborn sobs Man sees that baby lying there

                Mere echoes of the tree But only faith looks through

From which He’ll wail apart from all And sees a nail-scarred babe turned man

                ‘Thou hast forsaken me!’ Who died for me and you.

rgh