Poetry for Christmas

'And in the sky ahead, the stars are bright.'

‘Asylum seekers’

Poem by Rainbows Children’s Meeting

Mother and child are fleeing in the night.   
The brutal soldiers search for them behind,       
And in the sky ahead, the stars are bright.       

The tired donkey follows Joseph’s light,   
Cautiously stepping like a man who’s blind;
Mother and child are fleeing in the night.         

And Joseph worries; he’s far out of sight
Of home and workshop, friends and neighbours kind;
But in the sky ahead, the stars are bright.

And Mary cries for other children’s fright          
In Bethlehem, where killers try to find
The child and mother fleeing in the night.         

And all the time the baby, eyes shut tight,   
Rocked by the donkey, never cried or whined;
Mother and child are fleeing in the night.         
And in the sky ahead, the stars are bright.

‘Walking in winter’

Poem by RV Bailey

A harder journey to Bethlehem this year.
So many closures, and so resolute, such
Rare joy. The landscape re-configured,
Perhaps forever, the sky dark ahead, as far
As we can see.

We take the next step,
And the next, the next –

And at the end, as always,
A child’s contented gurgle
And the morning star.