VISITATION

The one too young, the other much too old,

the pregnant cousins hoarded up their strength

for the months ahead. Their birthings, though foretold

by saints and angels, echoing down the length

of sacred time, would surely make of each

a stranger in her world—like all who care

less for their day than for its outward reach

into a new-born future. No one would spare

them here. You the gossips’ fodder. She,

Elizabeth, a prodigy dragged onstage

where all the curious of the world could see

the strange enormity of pregnant age.

Each stood in need of courage and of grace—

which flowed between them in their close embrace.