Recently
there’s been talk on corners.
Mary is expecting a baby,
you see,
before she has begun
to live with Joseph.

“Oooh,
some people just can’t wait!”
smirks someone.
Mary passes by,
head bowed down.

“Bringing shame on the family!”
whispers another
as Mary approaches.
Mary hurries past.

“Bring back stoning,
that’s what I say!”
rasps someone else.
Mary lowers her head
and blinks away tears.

Harsh words
to cut, to humiliate, to hurt
and to terrify.

Mary hurries off
to a town in the hill country
to visit Elizabeth.

What a reception
she receives –
welcome, warm embrace
and smiles all around.
Even Elizabeth’s unborn child
leaps for joy!

Here, Mary can hold her head high
and reveal at last
her true feelings –
“My soul glorifies the Lord!”

Three months in the hill country
with Elizabeth –
where Mary feels
known, loved, accepted
and understood.

A hope that,
by the time she returns home,
the talk on corners
will have ceased.

© Claire Murray, 12th January 2023