Proclamation of the Incarnation

The whole life of Christ
was a continual passion;
      others die martyrs,
          but Christ was born a martyr.
He found a Golgotha
    (where he was crucified)
             even in Bethlehem,
where he was born;
   for, to his tenderness then,
      the straws were almost as sharp
          as the thorns after;
      and the manger as uneasy at first,
                as his cross at last.
His birth and his death
       were but one continual act,
          and his Christmas Day
             and his Good Friday
               are but the evening
                 and morning
                   of one and the same day.














                                                       JOHN DONNE
















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