Southwell: The Nativitye of Christ

Nativity. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum

Behold the father is his daughters sonne
The bird that built the nest, is hatchd therein
The old of yeres an hower hath not outrunne
Eternall life to live doth now beginne
The worde is dumm the mirth of heaven doth weepe
Might feeble is and force doth fayntly creepe.

O dyinge soules behold your living springe
O dazeled eyes behould your sunne of grace
Dull eares attend what word this word doth bringe
Up heavy hartes with joye your joy embrace
From death from darke from deaphness from despayres
This life this light this word this joy repaires

Gift better than himself god doth not knowe
Gift better then his god no man can see
This gift doth here the giver given bestowe
Gift to this gift lett ech receiver bee
God is my gift, himself he freely gave me
Gods gift am I and none but God shall have me.

Ox, ass & shepherds. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum

Man altered was by synn from man to best
Bestes food is haye haye is all mortall fleshe
Now god is fleshe and lyes in manger prest
As haye the brutish synner to refreshe.
O happy feilde wherein this foder grewe
Whose taste doth us from beastes to men renewe.

[First verse] paradox: an apparently absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition, or a strongly counter-intuitive one, which investigation, analysis, or explanation may nevertheless prove to be well-founded or true. A common feature of RS's writings is the paradox, well-illustrated here.

[l1] the father is his daughters sonne: because Jesus is Mary's son but He is the Son of the Father and He and the Father are one. [ [30] I and the Father are one John 10]

[l2] the bird ... hatched therein: See: [10] He was in the world, and the world was made by him [John 1]

[l3] the olde of yeres an hower hath not outrunne: Daniel prophecies the Second Coming of Jesus

[22] Till the Ancient of days came and gave judgment to the saints of the most High,[Daniel 7]

[l5] the word is dumm: In the beginning was the Word (God the Son), the Word became flesh and dwelled amongst us. But as a newborn, the Word did not utter words (though doubtless communicating like all newborn infants!).

[l5] the mirth of heaven doth weepe: 'mirthe' - Often used of religious joy and heavenly bliss. Now obsolete. The sense then seems to be that God's Heaven is bliss ('mirth') where there are no tears; but the Christ child cries like any other infant here on earth in 'this vale of tears'.

[l6] fayntly: weakly, feebly.

ll11-12]: The syntax works like an acrostic:
From death                     :    This life
from darke ('darkness')  :     this light 
from deaphnesse            :     this word
from despayres              :      this joy       repaires

[l15] gift/giver/given: the giver is God; the gift is Himself (ie His Son); He is bestowed on or given to us. He gives Himself to us through His incarnation; He gives Himself unto death as a sacrifice to redeem us, with such great love, he lays down or gives His life for His friends; He gives Himself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and offers to give Himself to the faithful in Holy Communion.

[l19] best: beast. Man lost the gift of freedom from from concupiscence, a desire of the lower appetite contrary to reason and hence likened here to animal impulses.

[21] I find then a law, that when I have a will to do good, evil is present with me. [22] For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man: [23] But I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my members. [24] Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? [Ephesians 7]

[ll20-24] haye: The context here suggests an image of baby Jesus lying on hay in the manger of the stable in Bethlehem, with the ox and the ass nearby. This image conveys another meaning: God has come down from Heaven ('Now god is fleshe') and has a taste of life on earth, like one of his creatures; He lies in a manger where animals eat the hay to keep themselves alive. He will become like this hay for our sake and offer Himself to us through Mass and Communion so that we may have a taste of Heaven here on earth; and so that we, 'brutest synners', by partaking of Him, might be refreshed and have the hope one day of life with Him forever in Heaven.

There is no ass or ox in the Biblical narratives of the birth of Christ but with exception of the Child himself, the ass and the ox are the most ancient and stable elements in  the iconography of the nativity.  See The Ass and The Ox in The Nativity Icon by Jonathan Pageau at The Orthodox Arts Journal.

The ox (a clean animal, a castrated male) represents Israel (the chosen people, circumcised)  and the ass (an unclean, uncastrated animal, a beast of burden) represents the gentiles (uncircumcised of the flesh).  Together they represent the whole of mankind, as in the poem.

They feature in the prophecies of Isaiah:

[3] The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood.[Isaiah 1]

This has an interesting parallel in St Paul:

[22] For both the Jews require signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: [23] But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness: [1 Corinthians 1]

Coda

Fulton Sheen provides a modern version of the use of paradox in describing the Incarnation of Christ:

“He who made his mother is born of his mother. He who made all flesh is born of flesh. The bird that built the nest is hatched therein. Maker of the sun, under the sun; molder of the earth, on this earth; ineffably wise, a little infant; filling the world, lying in a manger; ruling the stars, suckling a breast; the mirth of heaven weeps; God becomes man; Creator, a creature. Rich becomes poor; Divinity, incarnate; Majesty, subjugated; Liberty, captive; Eternity, time; Master, a servant; Truth, accused; Judge, judged; Justice, condemned; Lord scourged; Power, bound with ropes; King, crowned with thorns; Salvation wounded; Life, dead. And thought we shall live on through eternity, eternity will not be long enough for us to understand the mystery of that Child Who was a Father and of the mother who was a child.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Divine Romance, delivered in the Catholic Radio Hour 1930)