How things are done

After Luke 2:1-20 

With a man’s ego it begins,

a king wanting to know

the extent of his power,

his reach, his grasp,

how many he rules,

how many can be taxed,

a dual vision and

a dual purpose,

but not the reason,

the fundamental reason.

The wheels of the machinery

of heaven begin to turn,

as census counters take

their positions in towns

across an empire, 

to accomplish a king’s will,

not knowing that they

begin the telling of the story,

the story orchestrated 

in tens of thousands

of towns, like tens 

of billions of stars and 

galaxies in a universe

where only one planet

matters, in an empire

where only one tiny town

matters, that this counting

of millions serves only

as backdrop to the drama

unfolding, unseen and

unremarked, in a stable

in the city of David.

 

Photograph by Jan Kronies via Unsplash. Used with permission.