I Have Come

Somewhere in my memory there was a donkey
Shambling and swaying.
I just wanted to lie down but there was nowhere for me to rest.
Go – leave here – move on
Find your papers, they said.
There is no room here, they said.

Go back where you belong.
Inside me is hope waiting to be born.

I have come in soiled swaddling and a strawy bed
In the cry of this mother and all mothers
In the bruised hands of this father and all fathers
And grandfathers, and grandmothers
To virgins, widows and children I have come.
                        ∞
Somewhere in my memory there was a boat
Surging and swishing.
I just wanted to lie down but there was nowhere for me to rest.
Go – leave here – move on
Find your papers, they said.
There is no room here, they said.
Go back where you belong.
Inside me is hope waiting to be born.

I feel like I am going to die, I said.
I am going to be born and then I am going to die, he said.

I have come, he said.
I have come in a soiled blanket on the ground
And soaked clothing.
In the cry of this woman and all women sold into brutal hands.
To parents in far-off lands waiting for news I have come.

To the outcasts and the not allowed in I have come.
To the cold and the hungry, the burnt out and the washed out I have come.
To the faithful inside the cathedral
And to the wasted outside in the square, I have come.
To the old and the young, I have come.
To the anxious and afraid,
To the trafficked and traumatised,
The despairing and displaced,
To the weary and waiting, I have come.

In humility, I have come:
The Wonderful Counsellor who needs tender care
The Mighty God who snuggles and sleeps
The Everlasting Father who is a suckling son
The Prince of Peace who plays.

Angelic Advent awake!
The door of my heart is open.
I kneel at your coming.