This was the moment when Before turned to After

And the future’s uninvented timekeepers presented arms.

This was the moment when nothing happened.

Only dull peace sprawled boringly over the earth.

This was the moment when even energetic Romans

Could find nothing better to do

Than counting heads in remote provinces.

And this was the moment

When a few farm workers and three members of an obscure Persian sect

Walked haphazard by starlight straight into the kingdom of heaven.

U.A. Fanthorpe (1929-2009), BC/AD, 1982.