All Those Present Bear Witness (Poetry)

We were never mentioned
in the accounts of men —
the tales they told
they speak of kings and angels
shepherds, too
describe the gifts —
the lamb, the myrrh, the gold
add details like
the virgin’s cloak was blue
how bare the barn
that star — how bright it shone
burning fierce
half-blinding everyone
and leading travellers to that lowly place
to gaze upon
His newborn sleeping face

They overlooked
how many other eyes
peered from corners
small silent witnesses
unknowing and unwise
to what was happening
why the spirit moved the skies
beyond our comprehension

Our mixed community of creatures
creep and crawl
unobtrusively inhabit
roof and wall
we hear, we see
events in the lives of men —
those giants who rock our world
time and again
they judge us dumb and insignificant
as though we’re deaf and blind
and cannot think

But we saw it all that night
each act unfold
the owl up in the rafters
fluffed by cold
the woken bat hung quiet
who squinted round
the mouse who ran across the floor
without a sound
the moth who circled the soft glow
in dizzy trance
the beetle tapping in the wall
forgot to dance
the spider in his dusty ragged web
felt it too, that power —
knew the truth unsaid

Although we have no voice
each lacks that skill
of such communication
yet we carry still
that inner knowledge passed
on down the line
and deep instinct surfaces
at Christmastime
we wait as humans do each year
for something like an omen to appear
the owl looks to the heavens
whence He came
a moth flies in entranced
by candleflame