BETHLEHEM REVISITED

“We’ll have to change the place
for our Christmas do,” Sharon said:
we’d planned for a restaurant.
Sharon’s my niece:  I asked why?
“Shane can’t go out,” she said.
Shane is her latest boyfriend
so was he ill or freaked by crowds
or fresh air, I asked?
“He’s under house arrest,” she said.
“He has this thing on his leg

that beeps the cops if he steps outside.”
“What did he do?” I asked.
“He’s on GBH remand
for beating up my husband,”
she explained.
 

I thought I should change the subject
so I asked who else might be coming
to celebrate the birth of Jesus with us.
“His five kids and my four,” she said.
“Well actually only four of his because
Zoe is a material witness
and allowed no contact.”
I rang off and poured a drink,
well, three in fact.
 

So let’s say shepherds came:
they’d find chaos
like the stable in Bethlehem –
a manger and a wise man or two,
authorities keeping track – and the child?
I think he’d do just fine.