The Heart In Waiting

The Heart-in-Waiting

Jesus walked through whispering  wood:

'I am pale blossom, I am blood berry,

I am rough bark, I am  sharp thorn.

This is the place where you will be born

Jesus  went down to the skirl of the sea:

'I am long reach, I am fierce  comber,

I am keen saltspray, I am spring tide.'

He pushed the cup  of the sea aside

And heard the sky which breathed-and-blew:

'I  am the firmament, I am shape-changer,

I cradle and carry and kiss  and roar,

I am infinite roof and floor.

All day he walked, he  walked all night,

Then Jesus came to the heart at dawn.

'Here and  now,' said the heart-in-waiting,

'This is the place where you must  be born.'

By Kevin Crossley-Holland, from Selected  Poems, 2001;