Christmas

The dawn breaks
the swaddled child awakes
His mother wonders
as he cries for milk
if it is true and will be known
that this small squalling one
will certainly

as was so suddenly
proclaimed to her
some months ago
by an angelic messenger
who knows God’s strength

become the scion who
inherits David's throne

and if it’s so
that heaven’s firmly joined
to earth
by an adulterated birth.