Joseph, Husband and Father
Advent 4; Matthew 1:18-25
Though Joseph’s doubts might well have sired his rage,
he did not choose that Mary face disgrace.
He’d free her from their bond and plead his age,
provide for her in some secluded place.
An angel in a dream cast doubts aside:
this child’s conceived by Holy Spirit’s will,
so Joseph need not fear nor Mary hide –
she is beloved of God and Joseph still.
Enabling and supporting is his role.
Suspicion he let go without a trace,
though other men might brood on toxic pride.
He modelled humble dignity of soul,
and showed the growing child an abba’s grace.
Acceptance turned to love as heart stretched wide.
Barbara Messner 18/12/2025
Barb, poet priest 
Just exquisite … the truth of them and also the joining of form and rhyme which is so like a carpenter’s art.
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Thank you. I love the idea that sonnet crafting is like carpentry, making a little neat box just big enough for the contents of meaning.
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Yes. Yes, indeed. I had a great uncle … certainly never knew him. My grandfather was the youngest of 16 and Hiram was one of the oldest. they were all what is called “hillbillies,” people who lived in the hills of Tennessee and made moonshine liquor in the woods but he was a carpenter and is credited with inventing the first coffin with a curved lid and I always wondered what need there was for that extra space. You are right every box should be the right size but at the end there’s more to us than the body left.
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I wonder if it was the carpentry challenge that inspired him. When my son made a bass guitar as a year 12 project at the Waldorf School with a violin maker as mentor, making wood curve was a demanding skill which required much parental soothing of panic! Maybe the moonshine served a similar purpose as Hiram experimented with curved coffin lids!
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I am chuckling … yes! to the challenge, but I am guessing no to the moonshine!
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