Nativity

Nativity

Henrietta DuCap

Once before, a messenger breathed tidings
Against the grain of my worry—
Our family could still fit together,
A strong shape with three sides.

Tonight the message makes
My heart spark and shatter
The way a stone absorbs a chisel’s blows.
“To Egypt. Run. Herod seeks to kill.”

I wake. He fades, and we are only three again.
Without those thousand eyes
Drilling in the dream behind my own,
Does the father of Israel still see?

I reach to touch my son’s hand.
He rubs eyes that shine in the dark,
His and mine two different browns. “Abba, why?”
My carved heart hammers. Does he know?

We were wanderers when I held Mary’s hand
As my boy was born under sky, among animals.
This world has no room for us.
Is there no place we can find nativity?

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Henrietta DuCap
Poet

Henrietta DuCap earned her B.A. in Creative Writing from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where her poetry appeared in the literary journal The Makeshift Review. She also studied Children's Literature during a term overseas at New College, University of Oxford.

Photography by Annie Spratt