The Christmas Tapestry

By Michael Hare Duke

The humdrum duties of the land,

  feeding the beasts, mucking out the straw

  provide the dull hessian background

  of the Christmas scene.

Suddenly the tapestry is lit

  by glory's gold

  and smirched by red threads of violence.

First the angel song

  caroling the Word made flesh,

  then the murderous fire of Herod's fear

  slaying the Innocents.

Is conflict part of the perennial pattern

  of our response to Love's story?

Colonial might, conversion

  proceeding from the barrel of a gun

  betray the gracious Christ;

  the fear of might and money

    breed Terror.

Innocents of Palestine,

  Arab and Jew

  bleed from the bombs and guns

  that violence deploys;

  the flash of gunfire

  rapes the night's tranquility over Baghdad;

  the mothers of Breslan weep for their children

  and will not be comforted.

Meanwhile there's far within;

  as each of us grows old

  black crows of death and disease

  darken our days.

  Come Love anew

  let the angels' song

  counterpoint our tears

  and lace the clouds with glory.

Give us an unambiguous blessing

  by the Birth

  to paint a rainbow

  above our hearts' distress.

With love and prayers for Light to overcome

  the current darkness, political, ecclesiastical and personal.

The Rt. Rev. Michael Hare Duke is the retired Bishop of St. Andrews in the Scottish Episcopal Church. He may be reached by email at bishmick@aol.com .