after bible study

i picked Susie
up after her bible study
one night, one winter,
a thousand years ago.
she didn't want to go home
right away, so we
bought a bottle
of wine, drank it in the car
then went back to the church
where she showed me
the wooden shed where they kept
the Christmas
decorations. the long strings
of lights and candles.
the manger,
with the straw.
the shepherds. the three
kings. mary, joseph and the
baby Jesus.
we sat down next to the
bales of straw. leaning on
a plastic camel
lying on his side
and kissed, drank more wine.
the moon shot through
the cracks of the split planks,
lighting us up in stripes.
we shouldn't do this,
she said. pointing around
at the still figures.
i turned each of them away
so that their eyes were not
looking at us, but still
she said no.
for a little while.