Maryam At Nazareth's Well

Where water still giggles

as it gets carried away

by companion spirits

whispering the news.

Inside the gift shop are

icons of the Holy Mother,

holy, steadfast Mother

holding holy people

displaced from holy lands.

Inside the gift shop she

helps me count money

I don’t understand.

Inside the gift shop I

tell her how blessed

I think she is to work

so close to all this.

Inside the gift shop she

shrugs and says, “You’re

lucky to live so far away.”

Inside the gift shop there’s

realization of years spent

listening to Advent stories,

and how this is the first time

I’ve ever really heard the

sighs behind her words.