What About Joseph? Poem by James Tipp

I stood outside for the birthing, the place we men have to go
The journey to get here was tiresome and seemed so terribly slow.
We’d managed to find us a shelter, the room away from the din
The place were they kept all the fodder as well as the animals in.
I stood and waited quite anxious the dream seemed light years away.
The angel telling me quietly “You’ve got to let Mary stay”
The babies a gift to the whole world, Gods son is who he will be
I wondered if I had been dreaming, it all seemed too much to me.
The story Mary had told me fitted with what he had said
We wondered were this was leading, this accommodation could be better I said.
The Innkeepers wife was all bustle, you’ve got a new baby boy
I asked after Mary his mother, she fine now and quite full of joy.
We thought we would just get some rest now, a boy as the messenger said.
When out of the night came some shepherds more angels were talked of instead.
I knew at that moment the truth then, no dream this was truly Gods son
I pondered the implications, knew one day we’d all have to run
The talk of Herod was awful, a King who murdered at whim
If he heard of the baby before me his actions would be really grim.
Then just to compound the evening, three kings all bowing so low
Bearing gifts for the baby before them, saying God had ordered it so.
In all this I felt an outsider, what was I to do at this time?
My role in his story to be there, to love him as though he were mine.
I thought of the angles the shepherds, the kings all bowing in line
I look back with joy to that moment, when God gave me this as His sign.