Giunse per Maria il tempo di partorire;
ed essa diede alla luce un figlio...
                                           (Luke 2: 6–7)

Mary didn’t merely bring Him forth
in winter words and murk of night,
but idiom as bright as birth:   
                  She gave Him to the light.

And the event is different: it’s translated
into sunlight—into words that say
the same thing but illuminated,
                  turning night to day.

The words themselves become evangelists.
Telling the tale, they turn a phrase
—with verbal photosynthesis—
                  into an act of praise.