Close your eyes and see the manger

in a stable rude, in the dark.

Smell the smells of the cattle

and the straw and the soil and the rock.

Hear all the little rustlings

as the animals settle back down

from tolerated interruptions

by these people from the town.

See the velvet blackness of the sky

and the new star shining bright.

See amazed shepherds watching angels sing,

wondering at the sight.

See them tell all of the people as they

returned to watch their sheep.

Wonder if those people who heard

were able to return to sleep.

Could they even begin to realize

the thousands of years ahead

when you and I still pray

and worship for those wondrous words they said

2007