This week’s poem in the Catholic Poetry Room is by Martin Briggs.
Before Men
Before men leave the fold and hurry down the hill,
Their wits bewildered by a sky of singing fire,
And search the jostling lanes, and stop outside a byre
And doubtful hesitate across its rotten sill;
Before men try the fascination of a star
And wisdom that recedes but no less brightly burns,
And stalk it over desert hills, and only learn
Their curious journey ends before a broken door;
Before those first step from the pagan night, there are
Already in the shadows other witnesses,
Less complicated friends who share the mystery
That lies awake on hay in dank and fetid air;
Who being meek and pure in heart are doubly blessed
Inheritors of earth who now on earth see God.
Before men they see Him, the unnoticed, the ignored,
The worn out, beaten, placid beasts who mildly rest
Where creatures and Creator share a private peace
Undisturbed by rowdy laughter from the inn.
Before men enter with their words and gifts and sin
There is yet time, while time and world have ceased,
To pray for lost beatitude. Before men come
Within these mouldering walls and turn their sightless eyes
On animals and on a living sacrifice,
And bring their blood-guilt and a lust that crucifies –
Kneel to these innocents in their holy slum,
Kneel in the mire and know: Magnum Mysterium.
Martin Briggs is the son of an English Methodist minister, but has been exposed to and influenced by Catholic thinking and culture all his life. He began writing seriously after retiring from a career in public administration, since when his work has appeared in Areopagus, The Dawntreader and Reach Poetry. He lives with his wife in Suffolk, England.
