She cowers on the bed
as a young girl would,
introduced (by an angel, no less)
to an overwhelming assignment/challenge/blessing.
I feel for this Mary,
the initial weight of the impossible
evident in her slouch and gaze.

Moments later
She straightens her posture
and says "be it unto me" and "behold"
but I love that Dante Rossetti
paints the humanness of her
"how shall it be"?

He used his sister Christina
as his model, a writer in her own right
famous for her
In the Bleak Midwinter:

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