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An Advent poem by Nancy Reeves
Later,
when the tale was told by others,
I was not mentioned –
like many women and men in essential jobs,
taken for granted.
But the Eternal One knows.
For God gave me the gift
to ease the birth.
He was like so many others;
you could tell it was his first.
Anxious to get back to her.
Love shining in his eyes.
That wasn’t the only thing shining that night.
You didn’t need a light;
the whole sky was aglow with one star.
I knew they were packing them in.
But to make a woman, ripe to bursting,
sleep in a stable!
Oh, well.
At least no one would grumble at
the noise and the smell.
Birth so resembles death sometimes.
It was obvious she’d been prepared well
–
far from mother, grandmother, cousin,
yet taught by them and remembering the teaching.
She knew that pain is part of every birth,
living with the hope and the joy.
He was a help too,
the strength and the gentleness in his touch and look.
The love between them rivaled that star.
Then, the sweating and the pushing.
Hard work, harvesting the seed
planted months before and nurtured in darkness.
It’s a willing sacrifice we make,
offering our bodies to be broken open
-water bursting forth, sweat and pain –
to birth a miracle.
They knew he was a boy child before I told them.
The final push was easy.
Sliding out of his warm nest.
he came
to be with us.
Little lambkin,
blood on his head.
Large eyes drinking in the world.
A person could fall into those eyes.
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I held glory for a second,
then gave him to her – to them.
I was forgotten for a time, as is right.
Their baby-filled eyes
had no room for anything else.
They had a few minutes, the three
united in communion,
before the magnetism of birth drew others.
This time, men as well as women.
I’m not good with crowds and I felt full,
satisfied –
my gift always ready,
prepared to make the way smoother.
I know I was inspired that night.
I left them to others and went home.
Grateful for my part
in bringing God to birth.
This poem is reprinted with permission from ‘The
Midwife’s Story: meditations for Advent times’ (Northstone
Publishing, 2003). Nancy Reeves is a clinical psychologist and spiritual
director and teaches at the University of Victoria.
November 2008
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