In this case it may be best to read the poem before the background narrative, because it perhaps doesn't head where it first seems... So here goes..Not quite in deep midwinter
The decree goes forth from on high:
There is to be a nativity
And I am Gabriel,
Conveying the good news
To the chosen mother,
And the gang of shepherds,
And other members of the cast,
Including silent Joseph.
But none is more important
Than the duly selected girl.
It’s my choice, I’m told,
And so I cast my eye
Over the candidates,
Mindful of the parents
And what they will say
When their precious angel
Isn’t the one duly favoured.
Because this may be
A seasonal story
That few of them still
Believe in, enduring
Little longer than
The other one about
The fat, bearded man
In a red suit,
And endured by them all
Only for photo ops
And bragging rights;
An elementary right
Of passage;
But there are few
Good parts for girls,
And those not chosen
For the starring role,
Are reduced to imagined
Wives of imagined innkeepers,
Cross-dressing Magi,
Anonymous androgynous angels,
Or reduced to the level
Of beasts of the field
Or byre, or perhaps
The a different type of star,
Silently shining.
So who will it be.
The beatific beautiful one
Who needs no affirmation?
The feisty one, ready
To bring down the powerful
From their thrones?
The biddable one
Easy to direct
In her journey from Nazareth
To Bethlehem and beyond?
Or the overlooked one,
Unexceptional except...
Because of covid I haven't had to sit through a children's nativity play or "Away in a manger" for 2 years. The latter at least is a blessing. But I do miss the seasonal performances in Primary schools that usually punctuate the run-in to Christmas for me. Of course there is now an ever-expanding range of updated musical Nativities that do the rounds of Primary schools, (some better than others) meaning that children (and parents) are no longer victims of the sometimes limited dramatic creativity of the teacher who draws the short straw to be producer/director of this extravaganza, and there are increasing numbers of secularized seasonal offerings as well, so audiences don't necessarily know what happens next. But this is inspired in part by the current trend of cynicism portrayed by TV comics and others regarding being forced to watch their children's performances in the traditional school nativity plays. I do hope for the sake of their relationship with their children (if they actually have any and they aren't part of the "act") that said offspring don't see their parents dismissing their efforts for cheap laughs on national TV. Regardless of the story, any engagement with performance does massive amounts for their self-esteem. I've seen it in the bearing of many children, including those of hard-bitten fishermen - where a teacher in the local high school once told my wife that she saw a difference in the attitude of those boys in particular who had been part of the primary school drama club that she ran, And our own younger son on one occasion, after playing a star for 4 performances expressed what a come down it was returning to ordinary life! (Can't imagine where he got that sort of mindset from!)
ps. the appended picture is my Mother-in-law's knitted nativity, a beloved memory of my wife and her siblings.
Shalom
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