Bethlehem

by Hayley Shaver
(North Salt Lake, UT USA)

Once a hen heard two wise men talk of how
They had made a holy vow
To find the new King of the Jews and to him bow

So the hen, being curious, found the third wise man
And made sure he was busy with men from another caravan
After that she jumped into the pack that belonged to the last wise man

They traveled many nights to get to a land called Bethlehem
And, strange to the hen, she saw a glorious star guided them
To an animal filled den on Bethlehem’s hem

When they arrived at the den the wise men entered it
It was lamp lit
And for a king not fit

But there among the animals sat a man and his beloved one
They knelt in worship as they beheld a holy shining one
He was wrapped in swaddling roughly spun

He had been placed in a manger
And rich adornments of any kind he had none
It surprised the hen that this plain babe was Bethlehem’s long awaited son
The wise men gave him gifts of rare and costly things
The first one gave him gold in the form of bracelets and rings
The second gave him myrrh, in a basket made of gold dipped dove wings
The last gave him frankincense, one of the holiest of things

The hen had nothing to give but a plain feather from her wing
She placed it on Jesus although for a present it was a mean thing
Jesus touched it and turned it into a dove that sweetly did sing

As shepherds approached from the hill
And angels pronounced their king’s will
Of the stable the wise men had their fill

The hen stayed on as the wise men went on their way
And heard music soft and fey
And she fell asleep by Jesus as the star above spent its last ray