by Brad Davis
ANNUNCIATION Luke 1:26
Yesterday, an ordinary girl. This morning, the same birds
singing, same sun bothering me awake and here,
lying on my same mat, the same chores awaiting me –
yet I do not want to open my eyes.
•
I cannot love my life as I did yesterday,
before…whatever that was…the unfamiliar
old one who approached slowly and squatted opposite
as I tended the flat bread browning on the coals
who admired my skill and surprised me
by speaking of me strangely and knowing my name.
And then the proposal, terrifying. But I surprised myself
agreeing to it – no thought to mother’s wisdom,
father’s assent – and without another word,
the old one rose, bowed, turned,
and left me more alone than I have ever been.
•
I hear my sister stirring on her mat. She will be surprised
I am still beside her and not about my chores.
Can I tell her? And how to explain it to the man I am to wed?
What have I done? Who will listen and understand?
A MOTHER’S WORK Luke 21:27-28
We sleep together
outside the city
on the Mount of Olives.
Though I rise early,
he has already
left for the temple.
Every day for weeks now,
the people wait for him.
Temple leaders, too,
except to trap him.
He does not see this
ending well, but we
see the numbers growing.
The crowds love him.
We love him,
yet we are waiting –
our patience
sorely tested – for him
to spark the fire
he said he came to
bring upon the earth.
We have seen him
look across the valley
at the city and weep.
We have heard him say
not one stone
will be left on stone,
and then the new will come.
Each morning on this hill
it is my job
to rouse the others.
He will need us
to mind the crowd’s perimeter,
usher the sick and lame
into his presence
where, by the hand of God,
he makes whole
the host that he, even
greater than Gideon,
will lead to victory,
the fire of God
set upon the earth at last.