Sweet Jesus, Infant Born

Sweet Jesus, infant born
to Mary and the ever-patient
Joseph, foster father to the
Lamb of God who'd die
for all their sins. A blessing
Joseph wasn't still around
for that, to see the boy he'd
raised to love the wood with
which he worked -- he'd taught
him carefully to nail with
purpose -- now nailed to the
cross himself. One broken-hearted
Father was enough that awful,
wondrous day. Mary, though,
another matter as she stood
and watched, as close by as
they'd let her, sharing
in his agony as mothers do.
Sweet Jesus, what a handful
he had always been, and she
could feel the weight again
within her arms as on the starry
night when angels sang and
horses spoke and everything
she thought she knew became
transformed, turned inside out,
because she whispered, "Yes."



(c) Ellen Gillette, 2014