Beginning and Ending

The child enters the world in pain

The mother’s cries giving way to his own

Blood absorbed in animal stained straw

Smells of life and death,

Beginning and ending

Surround him from the first.

There is nothing simple about

This birth

This child

No simple joy

No simple story

No easy beginning

No easy ending

No baby gurgling sweetly in a cot.

Gold and myrrh hold all together:

Glad tidings of a saviour born for all

New-born life preparing to die

The gold of the king sharing his riches

Frankincense – God with us, God for us,

So that we can be with God

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