Ava Poems

In that land there lived a maiden
to us it has been often said—
this woman’s ancestry
was of faultless lineage:
she was born from Jesse’s stem.
...

Then the woman got up and left
and came to another town,
into a house in which was
the wife of Zachary.
There the good women lived,
...

When he had been put in prison,
then God came along
and taught all alike,
poor and rich,
in the towns and in the wilderness,
and brought comfort to very many.
When John learned
that God himself had begun to teach
in the same land,
...

Now shall we with the powers of our mind
tell what things took place
as that age was beginning
when the old covenant was expiring.
It happened in terra promissionis
which then was Herod’s kingdom.
...

Now the child grew, it is true,
until he came to his eighth year.
Then he left and went into the desert
and put his trust in God.
That was a great miracle
...

We read of John,
that holy man,
that God’s Son came to him
and began to talk with him,
that he should go and baptize
and receive penitents.
...

Two princes then there were
who wielded sovereignty.
Books give their names
as Herod and Philip.
One of them was married
and had a beautiful wife.
...

In those times there occurred
Herod’s birthday.
The tyrant went
into the palace of Herod
to the feast,
which he celebrated with zest,
with dancing and with singing,
dressed in finest silk.
...