The Carpenter

I was just wondering.... What was the first job you were given By Joseph in the carpenter's shop Were you set to sweeping floors Cleaning hidden corners with a broom, To remove the shavings Of the wood your father's lathe Had pared? Did you ever make a manger out of wood To hold the animals' food Remembering how Mary had laid you in one Within the stable adjacent to the fully occupied inn So that we would know that humble vessels Can be used for divine purposes Even containing the incarnate Son of God Did you at one time Get sawdust in your eyes And know pain and discomfort The inability to see So that later you would teach That those with planks in their eyes Should not criticise those with mere specks? Did you hang the sign outside the shop Advertising yokes made here are easy- Well-fitted to the individual animal For whom it had painstakingly been made Knowing that one day You would invite people to come to you For their tailor-made yoke Which would make their burden seem light? Was there ever a time When you held nails and wood In calloused carpenter's hands In the knowledge that one day One would fix you to the other And in doing so the wholly innocent Would suffer death For the sins of all mankind? I was just wondering Anne Linington copyright September 2008