Epiphany

In the straw burrow farm mice.
Get a little closer and you’ll see
nits in baby Jesus’s hair, lice,
and a house snake in the olive tree.

There’s beer on the breath of the three
sage men sitting under the olive tree,
playing games of cribbage,
ushering in a new age.

The pieces are swaddled in wool.
Mary’s breast-feeding the baby Jesus.
Joseph takes out his tools
to build a bed before the night freezes.

Mary wipes Joseph’s brow.
The wise men question how,
talk to Joseph about what he did,
and what in the end might be in the crib.

(“Epiphany” appeared in Rocinante, Spring 2009, Vol. 8
I’ve made a few minor changes here.)