Nativity

By Patricia McClelland

A crisp slice of moon rises

the chosen star ignites

Balthazar binds gold to his saddle

Melchior gathers myrrh

Gaspar measures frankincense

restless desert air drifts

sand about the stable

it rustles beneath ragged rasps

of beasts settling into sleep

and the harsh rhythmic pants

of a woman delivering

the promised messiah

her labor made painless by faith

He will turn things around

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Patricia McClelland’s poetry appears in: blynkt, Chronicles of Eve, Caravel Literary Arts Journal, Snapdragon Literary Journal, ARAS Connections: Image and Archetype, Altadena Poetry Review, Feile-Festa Literary Journal, Atlas Poetica, Lines & Stars, and a chapbook, Turnings. Her prose appears in the anthology The Mentor that Matters, Snapdragon Literary Journal, and Evening Street Press.