Chapters (8)

Old Man:

I should probably be going too.

Young Girl:

And I should do the same. Sleep well!

Joseph:

Well, they have all gone away now.

Mary:

Should we sleep too, like the others?

Surely you’re a little tired from

talking to our guests. They gave you

so many things to think about.

Joseph:

Of course I’m a little sleepy,

but I’d rather you slept alone

and let me keep watch, so the child,

who they tell us is so special,

doesn’t lack a faithful guardian.

Just close your eyes. Mine shall remain

open, so that nothing befalls

this gentleness, so that your dreams

are sweet and pleasant, with their shapes

calmly, lovingly wrapped around you.

Do not the stars watch outside too,

above our hill, this eternal soul

that is the spirit of the world,

that is this universe, this one

that never sleeps. Listen, who knocks

there at the door?

Angel:

there at the door? You may lay

down, one mightier will keep watch.

Joseph:

I’ll do what you tell me.

Angel:

I’ll do what you tell me. Then you

do well.

Joseph:

do well. Will this child be cared for?

Angel:

Be without worry, what you love,

and who’s loved you, if you be true,

rest easy, thus you should too.

Joseph:

Good night!

Mary:

Good night! My faith is finally

restored. Someday, when everything

is not as nice as I would like

to think, maybe this way I’ll have

the strength to bear it.

Joseph:

the strength to bear it. So sleep well.

Angel:

It’s a very curious thing

about the apprehensive minds

of mortals, as though they always

want to flee what’s been decided

on high, ever wanting to believe,

putting everything in order,

making extra work for themselves.

Yet there are the good and the kind

who do so, who don’t want to sleep,

for they think they will miss something.

The Lord has dispatched me hither,

so that I stand vigilant guard.

It seems He holds both of them dear

such that He’ll go easy on them.

Surely something special is in store

for the little child, otherwise

He’d not care so for the parents.

Will He endow it with wisdom

and beauty, prepare him for life’s

journey, which is aglow with great

suffering, and then the heavy test,

to claim for himself his divine,

lofty, eternal dwelling place?

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