Mary
Joseph,
tell me.
What is he like?
Who is he like?
I could keep silent
no longer.
Ever since the Angel Gabriel
had told me
I was to bear God’s child
I had had this nagging worry;
A worry I could voice
to no-one -
not to Joseph;
not to Elizabeth;
certainly not to my mother.
I had asked God
many times to tell me
but
He had stayed silent.
I should have asked
Gabriel
but
I was so shocked
at the time
and anyway
it hadn’t occurred to me
until later.
Everyone told me
everything was perfectly normal
but
how was I to know?
How was anyone to know?
I had never been pregnant before
and
this was no normal pregnancy
although
I couldn’t tell anyone that!
So I kept my worries
to myself.
Sometimes
I even forgot them
but then
they would surface again.
What would the baby look like?
Would he be different?
You know -
would he be like his Father?
and
if so
what would that be like?
I had put it all
to the back of my mind
what with having to get ready
to go to Bethlehem;
doing my best not to be a burden
to Joseph
on the way;
trying to find somewhere
to stay;
and then
the labour;
the birth.
I was so exhausted
but
I couldn’t rest
until I knew;
until I’d seen for myself.
Joseph held him up
for me to see.
“He’s perfect,” he said.
and
he was right;
so right.
© Kathleen Wilks