Category Archives: Christmas Poem

Somewhere Near Christmas

Posted on by
2

So close, just beyond this busy corner.

Has to be here somewhere.

I see the rushed paces, flushed faces;

Blank stares and unawares.

Happens every year, the fight to hear…

The little drummer boy, Angels on high,

My mother’s tired sigh.

Christmas past pasted

Like cards around doorways.

New pajamas, mistletoe,

And a ceramic manger made

By my godmother.  

Call me sentimental,

But the collective memories

Settle on the tree, tinsel-like,

Scattered, glimmering.

Does anyone use tinsel anymore?

I’m older now, as you gather.

I’ve got enough history

To fill a stocking anyway.

Midnight Mass, candles all around

The silent night of dreaming

Of peace and place and a Person.

All shall be merry,

And all manner of Christmas shall be merry.

“I Am the Light of the world.” Jesus   

Come Any Other Way (2012 Christmas revisited)

Posted on by
5

Oh God, come any other way,

but not as a child.

 

Come in a space ship

so we can claim you as an alien,

as a figment of our imagination.

 

Wash up on earth’s shore

so we can claim you as a castaway

an unknown, scraggly and salt soaked.

 

Walk into town as a vagabond

so we can look and call authorities

to distance us.

 

Stand by the side of the road

so we can decide if your thumb up

is necessary for us to stop.

 

But please don’t come as a baby.

Don’t come and coo and cry

and take our breath away.

 

Don’t come as we did,

dependant and humble

and wrapped up tight.

 

Just don’t, don’t be so vulnerable

as a wonder from a womb

bathed in the liquid of humanity.

 

Don’t come as a child, please.

For then we would need to

hold you in our arms.

 

Don’t come as an infant

so innocent and small

for we might get emotional.

 

Don’t come as we once were

to become as we

should be.

 

Don’t come in this mysterious way

for then we might come

and adore You.

Hearth of the Matter

Posted on by
4

My poetry went missing,

The selected words

Blended in the white noise

Of yule mules and

Their sleigh bells a bouncing.

Commerce over Christmas,

The ever present threat

Of package over presence.

 

Infuse our giving with life,

Let not our hearts inflate

On front lawns of light.

Guide our hearts to

The hearth of the matter.

Warm us by the fire

Of Your reality,

And give us more than

Peace on earth,

Grant us a piece of

Your heart.

 

Amen.

Come Any Other Way.

Posted on by
18

Oh God,

come any other way,

but not as a child.

 

Come in a space ship

so we can call you alien,

and just a figment.

 

Wash up on shore

as a castaway, an unknown,

scraggly and salt soaked.

 

Walk into town as a vagabond

so we can look and call authorities

to distance us.

 

Stand by the side of the road

with a cardboard sign

so we can hand you a twenty and drive on.

 

But please don’t come as a baby.

Don’t come and coo and cry

and take our breath away.

 

Don’t come as we did,

dependant and humble

and wrapped up tight.

 

Just don’t, don’t be so vulnerable

as a wonder from a womb

bathed in the liquid of humanity.

 

Don’t come as a child, please.

For then we would need to

hold you in our arms.

 

Don’t come as an infant

so innocent and small

for we might get emotional.

 

Don’t come as we once were

to become as we

should be.

 

Don’t come in this mysterious way

for then we might come

and adore You.