Mary and Joseph
They live down the street
We ate donuts on strings
Tied to their tree
Last Halloween
But Christmas Eve is for listening
To country music on the local radio
While waiting in a long line of cars
With out of state plates
To see the scandalous
Thunder couple
Pretend it’s the worst
Road trip of their lives
When they could not find
A single donut shop
In Bethlehem
We saw a man up ahead
He stopped
And listened
To the darkened forest
A rustling noise
And a woman’s voice
Calling him to come in
We never saw him again
Another man on a tandem bike
Rides down the boulevard
A woman in tears walks the other way
They cross paths without a word
She keeps walking
As her cries fill the void
And break the awful silence
He keeps peddling on
Awkwardly
Alone
Lightning bolts fell from the sky
Landing on the ground
Unconvincingly
Like actors in silver suits
Performing in a stage drama
On daytime TV
One of them curled up in agony
Or defeat
I never could tell
He could barely speak
His voice cracked so quietly
You’d think he was about to cry
When he softly uttered
“I’ve lost my thunder”
They say this is the longest night
But I don’t think they were there
When the heavens and earth aligned
And the earth could not be satisfied
Until heaven was laid to rest
Within the earth’s darkened womb
And the bride was left
To walk the road
Alone
No stars tonight
No great conjunction to be seen
In the constellations above
Except for the one that happens
Between your eyes
And the eyes of a child
If we can’t see the stars there
How can we expect
To see them in the heavens?
