Christmas

We listen to the story again:
An exotic visitor
Comes to a country girl
In a mountain town
And nine months afterwards
God's wisdom is a
footling child.

Shepherds arrive to the place,
Summoned by music;
And scholars from some
distant part,
Tracking a light.

But why did not the sun,
for awe,
Lose its footing in the sky?
Why did seas not charge
across the astonished land? Why did every horse in every
paddock everywhere
Not break into delirious
chase?
By what foul means were
linnets stilled?

And how can we,
Loving so little,
Fettered by knowledge,
Believe in such
excessive love?

Pádraig J Daly

(from The Voice of the Hare, The Dedalus Press, 1997)