One Mother’s Night

by Mary Winters


On the back of a mule
with her child inside
weary from the trip
she continues to ride. 

Past broken down buildings
they move through Shiloh
at Bethel they pray
a few days to go.

As pinnacles of gold
glisten in the sun
only ten more miles
to Jerusalem.

Earth-colored buildings
spill over a hill
there lay Bethlehem
not a soul is still.

Below in the village
crowds line the streets
there’s no place to go
no place to retreat. 

“We’re full for the evening,”
the innkeeper says
“A stable out back
Is all that there is.”

Amidst lowing cows
and bleating sheep
she lays her head down
and begins to weep. 

Up high in the darkness
a star shines so bright
and welcomes a child
on one mother’s night.

 

* * * * *

Mary Winters is a Long Island, New York poet who has been writing poetry since 2004. She is a member of the Farmingdale Poetry Group, the Farmingdale Creative Writing Group, and the Long Island Writer’s Guild. In 2005, she won Honorable Mention for her poem “Elegy of a Slave Girl” in the Lake Ronkonkoma Historical Society poetry contest. Her poem “Charles of Glen Cove Hardware Store” was recently published in the PPA (Performance Poets Association) Literary Review #26.