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And I think he's
rather daring too

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in one of these ballads, the one
called of the nativity, which

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I believe is mimeographed.

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What is daring about this is
seeing in the birth of Christ,

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which Saint John sees
as a union of God

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and man in seeing in
this a kind of marriage.

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One of these is the
bride, one is the groom,

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spirit marries flesh.

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And Saint John sees,
again, in a way

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that some have found
shocking the birth of Christ

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in terms of a marriage.

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In time, it came around the time
ripe for the birth of a boy,

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much as a bridegroom steps
fresh from the chamber of joy.

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Arm in arm he arrived entwining
the sweetheart he chose.

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Both in a byre at hand,
the pleasant mother

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reposed among oxen and
burros and such as the winter

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sky drove in.

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How they struck up a tune those
folk sweeter the angels sang.

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There was a bridle to chant,
there was a pair well wed,

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but why did he sob and sob
God in his rough hewn bed,

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such a dazzle of tears.

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This gift all at the
bride could bring

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how the mother was
struck at so topsy-turvy

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a thing, distress
of the flesh in God,

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in man the pitch
of delight pairs

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never couples so,
different as day and night.

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That's not as important a poem
I think as the first one I read.

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The whole series it's from is
a less, less important kind

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of poetry.

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What I think is
exciting about it

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is purely the way
the image works out

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in this particular poem.

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