As his tail -------- swishes ---- & hooves clomp on the clay floor ---- you reassure the beast & tell yourself ---- as you settle in the straw you'll return to the glaring lamplit clamour of the -------- feast as soon as you find your breathing But that's when the angel appears ---- lifting you from a sleep you've fallen into ---- like from a -------- dark well & he calls you to sing You stammer a protest as Moses did but he calls you to sing a song of the creation of all things & that ---- is the beginning Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the award-winning author of the poetry collections Poiema (Wipf & Stock) and So The Moon Would Not Be Swallowed (Rubicon Press). They are both available at: www.dsmartin.ca