By Ward Shope
Summoned by the king of the day at the most pregnant moment of history,
the mortal parents of the Everlasting One make their taxing journey
where no one awaits them to fulfill the expectation of all the ages.
While preparing a room for all who trust, He can find no space in human habitation,
and is delivered to us in the enslaving cloths of common mortality
that the sons of earth might be emancipated for eternal dwellings.
Announcing regal tidings in creation’s theater of pastoral silence,
servants of heaven stir the hearts of humble keepers to higher meditations
conjuring curiosity and shepherding them to the feeding trough of life.
Witnessing the rabblers who proclaim an identity and destiny beyond sight,
the mother turns her eyes to her Father in bewildered wonder
as she nurses thoughts of the life-giving future of her ponderous treasure.