The Census at Bethlehem, by Michael Bourgo

The Census at Bethlehem, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Bruegel, in modern day Netherlands) 1566

The Census at Bethlehem 

In Bruegel’s world it’s all Flanders, 
a landscape without the angels,
no heavenly aspect to the event
which is about to take place. Raphael 
would have painted a great green space,
cherubim, seraphim, and hosannahs, 
but here it’s all plain and no sort 
of Mediterranean idyll. No one’s
looking at the actors in the play,
those two parents in the foreground 
and their precious cargo of infant.
No one’s interested in that pair;
instead people are busy chopping,
cooking, skating, or crowding around 
the officials behind their desks,
anxious to render whatever Caesar
wants now. The painter knew well 
how utterly we are occupied
with today, that we pass our lives
expecting nothing special--
not thoughtless, but simply tired--
and when snow is on the ground,
hoping mostly that the fires will burn,
that warmth might conquer the cold,
unprepared for any miracle 
that might occur before our eyes,
whether in breath of spring or death of winter--
and before you move to the next picture,
look carefully in the corners--
that’s where you might see yourself. 

Michael Bourgo 

Michael Bougo resides in State College, Pennsylvania, where he teaches for Penn State Outreach, leads several writing groups, mentors aspiring writers, and organize scommunity poetry readings. His work has appeared in several periodicals over the years, but of late he has mostly self- published. Writing is his retirement vocation, and he works actively in a number of genres, including light verse, prose poetry, and formal verse.  

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