Rest on the Flight into Egypt, by Leslie Morris

Rest on the Flight into Egypt, by Gerard David (The Netherlands) c. 1510

Rest on the Flight into Egypt
            
The donkey nibbles forbs greening the cracks 
in Mary’s boulder throne, a bulrush basket 
by the Virgin’s feet. The unswaddled Savior on Mary’s 
 
lap is not realizing the impossible task 
of fulfilling his parents’ needs--
he’s not commanding the date palm to lower 
 
its fruit laden fronds to feed his weary mother. 
Rather, as Mary dangles a cluster of grapes 
for his amusement, he fingers the matte 
 
roundness of each globe. In the background 
Joseph uses his staff to thrash ripe chestnuts 
from a masted tree. A balmy fall day. 
 
Later, as sundown deepens the serene blue 
of Mary’s robe to navy and the distant tawny 
olive green hayfields become shadows’ shadows 
 
Joseph will light a small fire on a flat rock. 
With his curved knife blade he will score an X 
through each chestnut’s leather skin 

​before burying them in embers.

Leslie Morris

Leslie Morris works as a speech/language therapist in the Austin public schools. Her work has appeared in The Cincinnati Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review and elsewhere.