My Sister Life and The Zhivago Poems

Christmas Star

✦ 141 ✦ Christmas Star The winter was chill. Wind blew from the steppe. And cold was the night for the babe in the cleft That parted the hill. The cattle were huddled all round in the cave, And over the manger Hung tendrils of haze— The breath of an ox and the warmth that it gave. And shepherds, while shaking the kernels of grain, The hayseed and burrs From pallets of fur, Gazed drowsily down at the night-hidden plain. Far off was a field and a churchyard in snow, Enclosures and graves, A drift-covered cart, And stars looking down on the tombstones below. While nearer at hand, but unseen till that day, More shy than the gleam Of a night lantern’s beam, The star over Bethlehem pointed the way. It blazed like a hayrick apart from the sky And God on His throne; Like arson it shone, Like flames of a silo reflected on high. ✦ 142 ✦ Like great burning stacks of incendiary straw It rose in the dark— A newly born star, Aloft in a universe stricken with awe. Its burgeoning aureole glowed in the night— A sign in the air, And three who were there Responded in haste to the beckoning light. Behind them their gift-laden camels were led. And donkeys in harness, each smaller in size, Descended the hill with a slow, measured tread. And then in a vision of ages to come All things that would happen arose in the dark: The thoughts of all eras, the hopes of all worlds, The future of galleries, museums, and all art, All fairy-tale whims, all the magical deeds, All dreams of small children, and all the Yule trees. All shimmering candles, all paper-ring chains, All splendors of tinsel in sparkling array. . . . (More harsh and more fierce blew the wind from the plains.) All apples and golden balloons on display. The alders were hiding a piece of the pond, But part could be seen quite distinctly from here Through rookery nests and the treetops beyond. And shepherds on hillsides could see in the clear The donkeys and camels that passed by the dam; And, wrapping their sheepskins about them, they said: “Let’s go with the others and bow down our heads.” ✦ 143 ✦ Their bodies grew heated from trudging in snow. The marks of bare feet that converged on the glen Like shimmers of mica led round to the den; And sighting these tracks with their candle-like glow, The sheepdogs were snarling, their hackles on end. The frost-laden night was a fairy-tale show As phantoms descended the snow-covered mound To enter unseen the processional flow. The dogs slunk along, looking warily round, And stayed by the shepherd boy, sensing some woe. And over that road, in a heavenly stream, Came angels to worship along with the crowd. Incorporal beings, they couldn’t be seen, But prints of their footsteps were left on the ground. The people were clustered in front of the stone. Day dawned, and the trunks of the cedars emerged. “Who are you?” asked Mary, “and why are you here?” “We’re shepherds and envoys of God,” they replied. “We bring you our praises and words of good cheer.” “You cannot all enter. I pray you, abide.” And there in the ashen-gray dark of the dawn The drovers and shepherds stood stamping their feet. The riders and footmen were carrying on, While over the trough of a hollowed-out tree The camels and donkeys all jostled and shrieked. Night thinned, and the dawning erased from its shroud The cindery speckle of stars that remained. And out of the multitude Mary allowed The Magi alone in the mountainside cave. ✦ 144 ✦ He slept all refulgent in cradle of oak— A moonbeam embedded within a tree cleft. Instead of a sheepskin he had for a cloak The kiss of a donkey and ox’s warm breath. They stood in the shade, in the dusk of the shed, And whispered, unsure of the words to be said. Then suddenly someone from out of the dark Moved one of the Magi aside from the bed; And lo: at the door, like a guest from afar, There gazed at the Maid the Nativity Star. ...