Tuesday, 25 December 2018

Christmas Heart-Beat

Christmas Heart-Beat

I feel my heart beating-
beat for beat – with this child’s heart

Why does my heart beat – beat for beat –
with this child’s heart?

Is it that this beating heart has given to me
by some arcane alchemy of blood –
by some secret magic – a new insight –
a new understanding?

Are not all children like this child –
are not all sleeping children
peaceful as this one?

My eyes would say so, but my heart
Feels otherwise, feels this child’s heart-beat
As its own, yet not its own alone,
But all the world’s.

This child has a secret, sacred heart
Only my sacred soul’s secret ears can here –
A heart encompassing the whole world’s hopes –
Pulsing in all hearts everywhere –

In hearts of men and prayerful women,
In children’s happy hearts, and in the hearts
Of mild-eyed cattle by the mangers side –

And in the heart of the gentle donkey
Marked with the cross upon its shoulders –

Where palms are strewn –
Where ring the loud Hosannas.
                                                  Maitri Mudra (EH)

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