We Stood Outside

We stood outside
the cave where we were told
we’d find
the lady and her tided new born son,
I in my green coat
the others burlapped, furtive, whispering:

Did she bleed heavily?
How red the straw?
How hard the breach?
Does she regret her pangs?
Is she now shivering?

And there, look there – the child!
How eager is the suckling mouth?
Is he content?
O look, his eyes!  

Above,  a comet carves
a tracery across the gloried sky,
the herald’s song --
a savior’s come, and to be found
in Bethlehem,
he said --
still echoes up upon the hill.


So when will all the sons
of tumult be destroyed?