Strange Advent

     Haven’t you heard?
  Christmas is now cancelled.
 So, there’ll  be no celebrating,
  and no meeting and greeting,
      in the festive season.

     So, go tell the wise men,
that they’re no longer wanted
              for the child they were seeking,              
with his family are now fleeing
  and have now lost their way.

        Fleeing from danger,
    the refugee family arrives,
to where land and sea divides;
     across which they pray,
   their safety may finally lay.

                             Their last money is now spent                           
     on a leaking rubber dinghy
   that’s meant to carry them over,
      to where they can recover,
       in a new promised land.

    In despair ignoring portents,
       they give their consent,
     to board the flimsy craft:
  Yusef – Maryam – and child,
     refugees clinging to hope.

       Such a strange Advent;
   with star-shells illuminating
                                   upon the recessive sea;                                
while Boarder Forces are seeking
     what fishermen now dread,
   what may lie within their nets.

      So, haven’t you heard?
   Christmas is now cancelled.
    with no celebrations and
                                                               no meeting and greeting                                                                 for the Christ-child can’t to be found:
         He is now drowned.

                                             
                                                                    © D G Moody 2024