Mary and Joseph


Most of the time she feels
like any other expectant mother
Most of the time he
is just as proud as any father-to-be

but she cannot stop
the icy fingers of dread
from squeezing her heart
as she sees her unborn son's destiny

with tight-lipped anger he remembers
the raised eyebrows and not quite sneers
that accompanied the hasty wedding
and the rapid swelling of her belly

he knows somehow
that he will not live to see his son's fame
and trembles for his wife
who will bear the pangs of childbirth

and hold Yeshua's crucified body
in her arms

Author Notes            This poem is not quite scripturally accurate because the angel Gabriel did not tell Mary the "downside" of being the mother of the Messiah (she received that news when she and Joseph presented the baby Jesus in the temple).

Christ's Mass


Scriptures
Incarnation
Rites of love
and sublime wisdom
Beyond these
Divinity
is found