From Alan C.Brown. Поздравление и стихи.
Решила познакомить вас с поздравлениями моего друга-поэта Алана Брауна, Ньюкастл - он - Тайн (Newcastle-Upon-Tine), Шотландия.
To dearist Irina,
I hope you are well and happy and the card reached you eventually. All the best to you, your daughter and all of your friends! Wishing you peace and joy at Cristmas. Love & Best Wishes. From Alan C. Brown.
The Virgin Birth
The oddest thing of all - this manner of giving birth.
Not least in its unusual, harrowing background:
Cattle trough, for a crib; tight strings of cloth,
Such as with a babe or a corpse were then bound;
Straw, bare wood; the animal's sour-smelling breath,
Nothing auspicious, nothing expected is caught,
You might say, unable to test her mind about faith,
But in imagination, and that falls short,
Confronted by the smile she gives back, soft-eyed,
From under a blue veil, contrasted with white
Plain folds. The bearded, old man, stood alongside,
Watchful, waiting, absorbed in the odd event:
Pregnancy's aftermath - this clean, un-blooded birth,
Her first one; born in us now, by her pure assent.
Alan C. Brown