The Word Made Flesh 

I

Mary, pregnant virgin!
Of what did you think
as you carried God beneath your heart,
bone of your bone,
flesh of your flesh?

Did you dream of
Israel restored
and David’s son upon a royal throne?

II

Mary, virgin mother!
Of what did you think
as you gently laid your babe
against the manger’s wood?

Did you already see his infant hands
(bone of your bone,
flesh of your flesh)
stretched to the beam of a cross,
nailed to the wood of a tree?
In your son’s birth cry
(God’s word given voice in the wails of a newborn),
did you already hear the last cry
that would be wrenched from him at death:
“It is finished”?

III

Mary, full of grace!
Of what do you now think
as you gaze upon your son in glory,
his wounds still pleading on our behalf before the throne of God?

For Jesus,
bone of your bone,
flesh of your flesh,
has triumphed over sin and death
crushed the serpent’s head.

Blessed are you, Mary, among all women
and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 
 

This poem was first published in 2006 © by Jeanne Kun, and is included in a book of collected poems, Gladly Given to God, 2021 © by Jeanne Kun.
Used with permission of author.

• See also Anna’s Heir, and Journey by Starlight, poems by Jeanne Kun

Top image credit: Nativity scene illustration, artwork by Mark Steiner, © from GoodSalt.com. Used with permission.