Publication – The Carpenter

Several of my Advent poems have been published by Agape Review, a newer Christian literary journal. Below is a link to one that has really stuck with me, as well as its text:

The Carpenter 🎄

"The Carpenter" 

This small pink being in my aching arms is not my own
But I am now and ever wholly his. 
The curl of these pudgy knuckles round my roughened thumb
Hold me in a stronger, steadfast grip.
Each tiny coo and cough strikes to my heart
As the gurgles of these little lips
Voice the groaning of all the weary earth
For this tiny boy of wondrous birth.

But, oh! How can it rightly be? 
Surely, surely it should not be me.
My palms are callused, thick and hardened,
Scarred from splinters and nicked by nails.
How can these work-worn, bloodied things
Hold this soft, sweet newborn King? 

No crude board should ever touch this flesh, 
No nail pierce his as mine—

But he wriggles, 
He whimpers
With a sleeping baby’s sigh. 

He cares not for my wounded hands
And nor, right now, should I.

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Ryanne_JM

Ryanne Molinari (MLitt, University of St. Andrew’s) is a pianist/organist, pastor’s wife, and lover of words. She is the author of Spirit-Filled Singing: Bearing Fruit as We Worship Together, and her writing has been published in journals such as the Journal of the T. S. Eliot Society (UK). Connect with Ryanne by subscribing to her blog or following her on Instagram.