Author: Ruth Asch
Word Count: 172
Rating: G/General
Summary: A simple expression of the wonders of faith
Nativity Poem
By Ruth Asch
Oh Jesus; God in a manger,
Almighty power behind the universe
and infant’s breath.
I love you; cannot understand you –
yet want to give you all my life;
even my death.
For you are Love’s perfection,
you are Beauty, Justice, Peace,
sweet Mercy wild –
and a simple, domestic thing:
breast-swelling, eye-dewing
baby child.
The dance of galaxies,
the singing silence, throbbing suns,
the quantum leap,
are far away, yet hid in you;
wrapped in your milky smile are all
the tears we weep.
I see a crumpled skin,
a fluffy head and fingerlets
which grope and curl.
Yet for you the deep waves brew
their storm, bright rainbows arc,
meteors hurl.
Tiny one, I offer you
my little love. In your own heart
lock it away;
humble then from infancy,
with you grow it wise in grace
to strength one day.
Awe and passion fighting,
humans are fickle, weak, and I
am selfish, proud.
But, small-for-us Eternal one;
Faith alters everything and Life
springs from a shroud.