' Arabic Gospel ' Poem by Margaret Alice

Total freedom means I may read the Arabic Gospel
of the Infancy of the Saviour, the miracles of Jesus
Christ in his Infancy - and nobody can force me to
believe or reject it, nobody dictate what I should
make of it, I am free to conclude

This Gospel documents the visions of dreamers, de-
lighting in apparently impossible ideas, entrancing
theories of supernatural powers, making the quest
for literal truth redundant - there is no means to
prove its veracity - true believers need none

While sceptics will never accept any proof whatsoever
I am entranced by the lovely vision of the baby Jesus
lying in his cradle, telling His mother Maria He is the
Son of God; sick people cured when the water in
which He was washed, poured over them

I am captivated by image of the boy Jesus making His
clay figures of birds and sparrows fly - when He was
almost flogged, His master’s hand fell off; explaining
astronomy to a philosopher - aspects of planets,
triangular, square, sextile; course retrograde

The little boy Jesus is a bewitching phenomenon…

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“THE ARABIC GOSPEL OF THE INFANCY OF THE SAVIOUR”

With the help and favour of the Most High
we begin to write a book of the miracles of our Lord
and Master and Saviour Jesus Christ, which is called
the Gospel of the Infancy: in the peace of the Lord.
Amen.