The Christmas Tapestry

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.

Source: http://thewitness.org/agw/hareduke010305.html (11/5/07) – Found on the Education for Justice website.