Just a Girl, by Mary McCarthy

The Annunciation, by James Jacques Tissot (France). 1886-1896.

Just a Girl
 
When that angel came
aimed like a lightning bolt
at your life
when his word entered you
like a tongue of fire
you knew
gods do not request permission.
They announce, they take,
they overwhelm
and whatever follows,
joy and grief
the simple loneliness
of the chosen
will be yours
your world transformed
in one searing breath.
 
Later they will name you
Blessed, Holy Mother,
Queen of Heaven,
like any mother
set to intercede
between us and
the father’s wrath.
Mother of sorrows,
you will be crowned
with a halo of stars
surrounded
by a nimbus of roses,
your small bare foot
set firmly
on the serpent’s head
your arms forever open
to cradle the new born child,
or to hold the body
of a murdered son.
 
Mary McCarthy

This poem was written as part of the surprise ekphrastic Christmas challenge.
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Mary McCarthy is a poet and former Registered Nurse who has had work published in many print and online journals, including Third Wednesday, Gnarled Oak, Praxis, and Earth’s Daughters. She has an electronic chapbook “Things I was Told Not to Think About,” available as a free download from Praxis magazine online.