Peerless

“Can a woman forget her sucking child ... ?” —Isaiah 49:15

Mary eyed her little survivor tightly
          as he nursed and teethed, then crawl-step-jumping
taught Egyptian games to Nazareth boys

Joseph noticed his ears
          how they filled like cups
how they thrilled at the sounds of the synagogue
sifting words that fell from dry scrolls
                                                                                                    drifting

temple doctors muttered
shaking their heads
          he speaks like a man

          astonishing man!
mobs flocked to crossroads, pushing
their children forward, pleading:

          he swooped them up in sweaty arms
          put calloused hands in their greasy hair
          and blessed each bleating one
                                                                                                    gently

mothers from Bethlehem listened intently
          to thirty-three-year-old Innocence
in each other’s nodding ears they whispered
that’s how old our babies would have been
our babies would have been
that’s how old
          our babes
our little lambs