---
title: "Vasilije: Christmas Eve: The Strand"
url: "https://ruthocallaghan.com/poems/vasilije"
updated: 2026-10-12
description: "\"Vasilije: Christmas Eve: The Strand\", a poem Ruth O'Callaghan wrote for Strandlines, King's College London's community project on the Strand."
---

# Vasilije: Christmas Eve: The Strand

He skirled towards me, a rasp and hawk of a man,\
his mouth adrift in his face. He volleyed forth words

repeated over and over whilst inquisiting the shifting sky\
the way you seek beyond the fluencies of light,

uncertainties inherent in the night’s sequence:\
the way shepherds scoured hills, on guard against wolves,

only to be ambushed by a hustle of angels,\
by hallelujah upon hallelujah flinching still air

and that one star that even now hovers, uncertain,\
above those precious wild words.

_Written for Strandlines, King's College London, 2019_