Poem-a-Day

The morning came like primroses
And pressed in through the slats
To the dim corner where He made
A rosy pallor in the straw.

I loosed the linen from my breasts
That took the light like ivory,
And pushed the door a little way 
Open, and looked at him again.

The air was sweet as hay, new moon; 
There was not any wind; the day
That crowded in the narrow place
Grew still to see him there.

The old men darkened on our door 
One night . . . their eyes were icy-clear,
The light was frozen in their eyes
That were too bright for old men’s eyes

And sided as the jewelled stars 
They let in with them when they came.
It seemed as though each star did haste 
To leech upon my chilling breast—

When one had crushed a lily once
And bruised its head to give his palace
And left a heavy blowth that soon 
Did thrust my tender walls apart 
To give its petals room.

The old men drew their shadows close
About his bed; their richen dress 
Hung loose upon each thawny frame,
As spare as ribbèd lantern.
They were too tall for the small space; 
Each had to bow his head.

They carried frankincense and myrrh; 
They touched their foreheads to our floor
And laid their gifts beside the babe.
Their gold was bright among his hair,

As it had fallen from a star, 
A petal of the light, congealed, 
That glimmered on his face.

The old men said,
A fair strange star
Doth watch above the babe. 
I looked up at the sky 
That were of a deep purple, simmering
Like unto a brew of grapes, 
And beheld a great star 
By a smaller star attended.
The large star 
Wore an august look; the two 
Stood, mid the lesser stars 
That twinkled on their shining errands
In and out the blue,
Rigid and gleaming.

I turned to the babe— 
He there naked, without defense— 
Saw his eyes too
Gazing without a quiver,
And put between him and the piercing
Chastity of the light 
My larger breast;

I gathered unto my breast 
The vast beam and the fiery
Point of the drawn star,
I felt the rays, unbent,
Streaming over the blue miles,
Grapple in my heart . . . my heart 
Hath endured till now.