Those were no ordinary sheep …

no common flocks,

huddled in sleep

among the fields, 

the layered rocks,

Near Bethlehem 

That Night;

but those

selected for the Temple sacrifice:

theirs to atone

for sins

they had not done.

How right

the angels should appear

to them

That Night.

Those were no usual shepherds there,

but outcast shepherds

whose unusual care

of special sheep

made it impossible to keep

Rabbinic law,

which therefore banned them.

How right

the angels should appear

to them

That Night.

Taken by permission from “Ruth Bell Graham’s Collected Poems” by Ruth Bell Graham, ©1977, 1992, 1997 The Ruth Graham Literary Trust.