A Christmas Card
Author: Bill Roberts
I have seen the place
Where Jesus was born,
At least where they say
He was born,
Those three wise fellows
There outside the ancient church
Standing against the low wall,
Their machine guns
Slouching lazily
Against their thighs,
A hallowed picture of innocence
Which, had I been brave enough
To take it,
Would have been perfect,
Without words,
As this year’s
Greeting to family and friends
At Christmas.
(Published with the title, “Bethlehem,” in the Piedmont Literary Review, Vol. XXII, No. 3, 1999)
Note: What a photo that would have made, but I chickened out, certain those guns were loaded. One of the most moving experiences of my life, visiting the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, then the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Bethlehem. You don’t need to belong to a religion to feel the magnetism of the spirit in the presence of such sacred shrines and hallowed ground. How far we’ve come since the birth of Christ. Alas, how little it often seems we’ve learned along the way. May Peace always be the goal, whether or not we reach it.
