Birth Night

By Royal Rhodes

---

The night is full of eyes,
ranks of speechless stars,
that gaze at tilted heads.

Flocks and sleeping shepherds,
dogs, and midnight creatures
the light has shocked in looking.

Cascading angel wings
like pale and sharpened quills,
fill a paper heaven.

The eyes of ass and ox,
animals in awe,
blink in this new light.

The little crowd is fixed
on gifts of royal glitter,
except this tender mother.

They shuddered from the cold,
but she from all she saw --
a tree and lonely hill.

---

Royal Rhodes taught religious studies for almost 40 years. His poems have appeared in various journals, including Ekstasis, Ekphrastic Review, The Seventh Quarry, and The Montreal Review, among others. His poetry and art collaborations have been published with The Catbird [on the Yadkin] Press in North Carolina.

Royal's other work on Foreshadow:
A Road Through Ohio Spring (Poetry, April 2023)
A Pilgrim's Song (Poetry, May 2023)
Journey to Silence (Poetry, July 2023)
Remember David (Poetry, July 2023)
Magnolia (Poetry, October 2023)
A Morning Walk into Light (Poetry, November 2023)
A Crisis of Angels (Poetry, December 2023)