Luci Shaw at 90

My mother, Margaret, died in November, but had she lived today would be her 93rd birthday. I discovered this morning that a favourite poet of past years, Luci Shaw, is 90 years old today.

Here are a couple of Shaw's incarnational poems for you to ponder.

Salutation

Luke 1:39–45
Framed in light,
Mary sings through the doorway.
Elizabeth’s six-month joy
jumps, a palpable greeting,
a hidden first encounter
between son and Son.
And my heart turns over
when I meet Jesus
in you.
* * *
Descent

Down he came from up,
and in from out,
and here from there.
A long leap,
an incandescent fall
from magnificent
to naked, frail, small,
through space,
between stars,
into our chill night air,
shrunk, in infant grace,
to our damp, cramped
earthy place
among all
the shivering sheep.
And now, after all,
there he lies,
fast asleep.