Bethlehem's Lament

Written as the lament of a mother of one of the babies murdered on King Herod's command, when he was trying to kill Jesus. (Matthew 2:16-18)
In case you haven't noticed, it is based around Coventry Carol, a 16th century carol about the murder of the innocents. In fact, it is singable to that melody!

Main idea of this one was "my child for yours" (which is also the alternate title). I noticed this recently and find it rather interesting: the baby boys of Bethlehem died in Jesus' place; later, he would die in mankind's place.
A long time ago while writing something else I realised that God knows exactly what it means to lose a child. Because he went through just that, when Jesus died on the cross. Of course, the mothers of Bethlehem could not know that yet. But since I write from the perspective of the Cross and Easter, I wrote it like this. You can imagine the third stanza comes 30+ years later.

_{(Here's proof again that I can't write a Christmas poem without the cross in it. Though I think that's perfectly fine theologically, and given in the Bible already. We have watered down the Christmas story into an idyllic, sweet thing, which it definitely wasn't. There's political oppression, bloodshed, poverty and dirt in it, and I think people would find it way easier to identify and accept the truth of Jesus if we stopped cutting out the gruesome, dark - but realistic! - bits.)}

Part of my women of the Bible poetry challenge, though it wasn't originally on the list. ^^


My personal favourite line in this one is "yours are the tears I cry". I like the thought of God suffering with us. We are not alone in our pain. God did not simply take the pain away, but took it upon himself too, identified fully with us, and I find that a powerful sign of his love.