It's only 3 days to go and Victoria Field's poem 'The Things They Said' is full of Christmas twinkle.
The Things They Said
The first star said
I’m a spark adrift
in the sea of night
The second
I burn with an icy light
The third star said
I’m an arrow pointing the way –
follow me, follow me into the day
The gold declaimed
I’m worth less
than the flowers in the field
The frankincense whispered
wash me away with the hair of a girl
when I’m gone I’m revealed
The myrrh asked
I’m beloved and bitter – it’s a birth
but has somebody died?
Said the gifts
you must give us
in our going, we’ll arrive
The old king cried
I need armies, chief priests and power
my hunger is hate and my anger is fear
The new king replied
nothing –
he’s asleep in the manger that’s also a bier
The love said
I’ll hurt you, one day I’ll go
that moment’s forever with each rising sun
Say the people, you’re crazy
Say the wise men, we know -
but that night for a moment
stars and earth become one.
Broadcast on Radio 4, Sunday Worship from Truro Cathedral, January 2007 and previously published in Poetry Cornwall
Lovely ...x
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