Annunciation

Ah Gabriel!
How hard a task was laid on you,
how hard the trust,
how hard
to travel through
the empty miles of space
unto a cloistered  girl
who knew no man,
to startle her
and race her heart
past fear,
and then announce
strange words --
that she would bear a son of destiny
who would be named
as Yahweh's chosen one.

Was all the gospeling
the holy one commanded you to speak
some comfort to her then?
Or did her face grow white
as stone?
And did her knees collapse
with all the gloried weight of you?
Were you to her
a hollow wind,
within the tensing air
a shadow blurred,
a light askance
just there
beyond the corner of her eye,
an echo of a voice beyond the upland hills?
Or did she know you then for what you are,
God's able bodied one,
God's might,
and look you eye in eye,
and calmly kneel
in smiling awe,
amazed at all the golden splendor
in your wings and wake,
with gentle handmaid's reverence
and, grace inflamed,
said yes,
hands crossed
along her heart,
her belly swelling quick with majesty,
reducing you to tears?