Seamus Heaney: Jesus and the Sparrows

* 13 April 1939   † 30 August 2013

Jesus and the Sparrows
from the eighth century Irish
 
When Jesus, son of living God,
   Was still a child, five years of age,
He played in twelve small water puddles
   That he blessed and fenced around with clay.

And Jesus made twelve little bird-shapes –
   The ones called passeres;
Out of the smooth clay he modelled
   Twelve sparrows on a Sabbath day.

Then comes a Jew who cautions Jesus,
   Son of the almighty God,
And takes him by the hand to Joseph,
   To have him chide his foster child.

“Give your son a scolding, Joseph,
   Caution him for his misdeeds.
On the Sabbath he has fashioned
   Clay images of birds.”

Then Jesus claps his hands together.
   They hear his child-voice give a shout.
Before their eyes the prince of graces
   Scares a flock of sparrows up.

They hear him speak the clear small words.
   The pure lips of Jesus move:
“So that you may know who made you
   Fly home now. Away! Be off!”

A witness spread the news: a story
   Everybody marvelled at.
They listened and could hear distinctly
   The little cries of birds in flight.

Seamus Heaney

Мирослав Б. Душанић