3/1/2024

SONNETS FOR MARY (cont.)

JOSEPH’S DREAM

You waited while the new life grew in you—

waited to know when Joseph would decide,

as law and custom held to be his due,

how to preserve his name and set you aside.

No point in telling him about the vision,

the angel kneeling, the divine request.

You’d seem to lie or mock. And his decision

had been what you expected but for a guest

unbidden in his dreams, who turned his face

away from norm and name and moved him still

to stand with you in hope and to embrace

God’s wayward grace, God’s earthward-yearning will.

And which of you, without angelic voices,

could have withstood your fear and made such choices?