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APOCRYPHA

According to the Gospel of James,
At the age of five,
Jesus fashioned five clay sparrows
On the Sabbath.
Locals in Nazareth,
Joseph amongst them,
Were scandalised.
Such levity, and on the Sabbath.
A good beating
Would do no harm,
They cried.

The boy was amazed
At being reprimanded,
Yet held his tongue.
Instead, spreading arms
To their limits,
He called on the birds
To rise:
‘Go forth unto the heights and fly;
Ye shall not meet with death
At any hands’.

Requiring no further prompt,
The clay birds did just that.

According to the Gospel of James,
Each morning, at around three,
Their descendants congregate
To celebrate this feat,
And voice disbelief
At how this could be so,
Though, according to James,
The inconceivable
Is always possible,
Citing the birds’ very existence
As witness.

(The Reader Magazine, 36, ed. Philip Davis, Winter 2009, pp.33-4)