Picture of a Nativity

By Geoffrey Hill
Sea-preserved, heaped with sea-spoils,   
Ribs, keels, coral sores,
Detached faces, ephemeral oils,   
Discharged on the world’s outer shores,

A dumb child-king
Arrives at his right place; rests,   
Undisturbed, among slack serpents; beasts   
With claws flesh-buttered. In the gathering

Of bestial and common hardship   
Artistic men appear to worship
And fall down; to recognize
Familiar tokens; believe their own eyes.

Above the marvel, each rigid head,   
Angels, their unnatural wings displayed,   
Freeze into an attitude
Recalling the dead.

Copyright Credit: Geoffrey Hill, “Picture of a Nativity” from New and Collected Poems, 1952-1992. Copyright © 1994 by Geoffrey Hill. Used with the permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Source: New and Collected Poems 1952-1992 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1994)