1989 Christmas Poem

Then
When there was no hope
It came
Long lay the ages
And the nations
Beneath tents
Of darkness
Beside the waters
Of bitterness
Afflicted will all
The scorn of evil
Shamed by every
Thorn of guilt
Bound were the hearts
And the eyes
Kept in the environs
Of despair
Lowered in the abysses
Of loss
Obliterated by each
Attempt to rise
Eclipsed with sums
Massing to nothing
Then
When there was no hope
He came

- 15 August 1989