etcetera:

by Noah Bartley

Agape – From the perspective of Mary the Theotokos

An angel came some months ago to bear
Good tidings to this lowly virgin’s soul,
Announcing to my unhoused womb: ‘Your Heir
Prepares His humble home and will extol
Eternally His throne through holy blood.”
Iesous, Yeshua, my firstborn son,
Native of Nazareth and Heaven — could
Creator God become a carnal one?
At last my Jesus lay upon my chest,
Recovered from an uncouth, dirt-filled crib;
Now natal cries for love are at my breast,
And thuds of love respond behind my ribs.
The Lord has come to meet our self-same cries.
Embodied Love will wipe our teary eyes!