What the Stars Want To Tell Us – a poem by Angela Graham

What the Stars Want To Tell Us

The stars, a rowdy, cheerful crowd,
ran to their places, prompt to the call,
and how they sing! since then,
a nightly choir.
Only the comets, their slow tears,
betray the sorrow underneath that steadfastness
for haven’t they seen it all?
− what we do down here,
warping the darkness that they love
into sly coverts for our filthiness.
Poor stars. Don’t grudge them their reprieve
each year, when their paragon, 
their Star of stars, leader of kings,
sets out once more and triumphs,
finds his place, finding the child,
perfect as every new-born.
Here! the Star declares to each of us,
Surely you see – surely – that you
are a Child Awaited,
arrived, naked and beloved, and you,
gift-bearer of nothing,
can stoop under the lintel,
step clean through the needle’s eye.

Angela Graham is from Northern Ireland. In Wales she has had a long career as a film maker. She now divides the year between both places. Her collection of poetry, Sanctuary: There Must Be Somewhere was published by Seren Books in 2022 and her collection of short stories, A City Burning in 2020.