The Barn

I checked out Christmas in the Stable by Beverly K. Duncan from the library because it sounded interesting. The poems are all told from the animal's point of view as they lived in the stable & wondered what was happening when Mary came & Jesus was born.



The Barn
by Elizabeth Coatsworth

"I am tired of this barn!" said the colt.
"And every day it snows.
Outside there's no grass anymore
And icicles grow on my nose.
I am tired of hearing the cows
Breathing and talking together.
I am sick of these clucking hens.
I hate stables and winter weather!"

"Hush, little colt," said the mare.
"And a story I will tell
Of a barn like this one of ours
And the wonders that there befell.
It was weather much like this,
And the beasts stood as we stand now
In the warm good dark of the barn--
A horse and an ass and a cow."

"And sheep?" asked the colt. "Yes, sheep,
And a pig and a goat and a hen.
All the beasts of he barnyard,
The usual servants of men.
And into their midst came a lady
And she was cold as death,
But the animals leaned above her
And made her warm with their breath.

"There was a baby born
And laid to sleep in the hay,
While music flooded the rafters
And the barn was as light as day.
And angels and kings and shepherds
Came to worship the babe from afar,
But we looked at him first of all creatures
By the bright strange light of a star!"