Nativity

When the day shall dawn upon us from on high to give
light to those who sit in darkness. LUKE 1:78-79

She longs to kiss his crown, still bright
and slick with the heat of her body.
In her throat, that warm, vast inverse
of sky, a song congeals, bursts
open like a star, drawn from her
tremulously, past the cradle of her lips
into a larger night—there is no room
in her now for emptiness—only aching
hope, this lullaby, the pulling away
of everything, which is God.