Love Arranged

Love arranged Choices made by others/for love of others Wind in trees/Angelic tones tell truths of offspring/Great … Confused, depressed/worthy of stoning … From Jacob star/to son it will Come to pass … In rags the peasant matron Not in regal blue/pain, labor. Finally birth In a cave, a trough/not for rich but poor Can it be? No room, no quarter, no roof or bed Filth, smell, all around … Straw, bovine sheep, dung, camels How can this be? How can this be right? Who are they? Uncomely, vagabonds in rags The promise, the oath/we are cursed, we are scorned First pregnant but how? … and dream, strange dream By why, surreal scene This is wrong/the sounds unbearable Cold, dark, damp. And Oh, the stench But the light/The blinding Light From a small newborn This is no warrior/line of David, no conqueror How could he be He … But the brilliance of the light illumines this ghetto this child among the misfits shines, gives radiance from the faith be borne hope is born but blood is shed near this shed hatred abounds /struck silent for disbelief than restored faith and voice once dumb shalom, no shalom deliverance sorrow, death reflected light/but not the Light.