Page 99 - Eggs and Ashes pages

98 Eggs and Ashes

Family

Part one

You weren’t sure, were you Joseph?
He looked like the others,
but you’d been told that he wasn’t yours.
Bethlehem and Egypt were over now.
The running had stopped,
but so had the angels.
You were home in Nazareth,
back with your friends,
immersed in your work.
And your family had grown.
But the first-born,
he looked more like you than
anyone else in the village;
but you weren’t sure.

Part two

You watched him as he grew,
didn’t you Mary?
Was he going to be so holy, so different,
that you wouldn’t be able to cope?
He was soon walking,
running into the arms of whoever
would catch him.
And when he neared speech,
you made sure that the first word he said was daddy –
Abba – and that was for Joseph
not for God.
He made friends easily.
He was good with his brothers and sisters,
bed time stories a speciality.
‘Tell us another one, Jesus!’
He learnt his trade from Joseph,
his letters from the rabbi,
his first prayers from you.
Weekly he shared in the Sabbath meals,