I’ve always wondered about Joseph and Mary. Off they went, Mary heavily pregnant, on a jolting journey. I suppose Mary couldn’t be left at home to have the baby in peace, but imagine how she felt, day after day, hoping she could hold on until she arrived somewhere … and poor Joseph, he must have urged the donkey to go faster … faster …
what kind of parents are you
leaving home and family
with your first-born
ready for entrance?
father plods beside the donkey
mother jogs on its back
each jolt
an ache in her body
every night anxiety
blows through his dreams
you didn’t plan this
Rome decreed it
story tells it –
this journey
to destiny
but – what kind of parents
are you?
A Summer Father … Here is poetry … interweaving images culled from a wartime childhood with bittersweet memories of a “summer father”. Lynda Monahan