Among Us

By Barabara Crane

 The Census at Bethlehem, oil painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Flemish, 1566

I paint a Flemish scene of bristly trees

and hard-packed snow between two frozen streams.

In this our northern winter land I freeze

a moment while the setting sun still beams.

The children run or sled or skate or scuffle;

bundled adults arrive and wait en masse

at the meeting house. Can you hear their muffled

carping? It’s as if it came to pass

that Rome had issued Flanders that decree:

Come, be counted. Gray-cloaked Mary rides

a donkey near the crowd. Were you to see

her, great with child, would you be her guide

or host? Would I, a Christian? That I pray,

but in this scene, we all go on our way.

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Barbara Lydecker Crane has won the Kim Bridgford Memorial Sonnet Crown Contest, the Helen Schaible Sonnet Contest, and has twice been a Finalist for the Rattle Poetry Prize. She has published five collections, including You Will Remember Me (2023, Able Muse) and Art & Soul (2025, Kelsay Books). She lives with her husband near Boston.