Orthodox Christmas Eve
Gail White

What am I doing here with all these Greeks?

Hoping, perhaps, at midnight Christmas Eve,

the unintelligible tongue God speaks

will summon even those who don’t believe

to Mary’s manger. Now the Virgin bears

the Master in the cave. As light through glass

he passes from her body. Joseph dares

believe the story. I can let it pass.

 

The incense rises like the church’s breath

into a frosty world. This night of birth

swells to a tide that tosses me past death.

But tides recede – I know this moment’s worth.

If love of beauty were the same as faith,

I’d walk in heaven with my feet on earth.

​​

- - -

Originally published in The Price of Everything (The Edwin Mellen Press, 2001)​​

- - -

Gail’s notes: “I secretly hoped this would be a sort of agnostic holiday classic, like Thomas Hardy’s ‘The Oxen’. (Might as well dream big.)“

​

- - -

Gail White is a formalist poet whose totem animal is the cat, as evidenced by her chapbook of cat poetry, Catechism. She lives in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, where she currently owns two cats and feeds three others.

​

- - -​​​​

Hop to…

Andrew l David l Janet l Janice l John l Mark l Martin l Melissa l Mike l Paul l Steven l Susan l Word-Bird

​​