In the Night Sky

"Christmas Star"

A wind was blowing from the steppe
In that deep winter tide
Where in a cold cave slept a child
Upon the curved hillside.
An ox’s breath was all his warmth
And every farmyard beast
Beneath the warm haze of the cave
Was stabled and at rest;
While, shaking hay-seed from their coats
Which they drew round them tight,
Some drowsy shepherds from their rock
Gazed far into the night
At fences, and a field in snow,
A cart snowed up for hours,
A cemetery, and over it
A heaven full of stars.
And, shyer than a watchman’s light,
Nor till now seen by them,
A star rose shining on its way
That led to Bethlehem.
It flamed out like a haystack, far
Away from God and sky,
As though it were a farm ablaze,
A fire sparkling high
Which rose up like a flaming rick
Of burning thatch and hay
Amid a startled universe
That saw the new star’s way

(Boris Pasternak)