Love is Very Much

Like Christmas

by Jayne Bremyer

 

We always have to hold our breath

when the night has finally come--

clear and silent-holy

is the hushed expectancy

of Christmastime

when the whole world seems

to hold quite still.

Only stars seem still to move

as we wait

with upturned hearts

the once a year rebirth

of heaven

into lives of men.

It's getting light;

smell hard red candies

and green sapping cedar

as they unfold the news

"Christmas morning's here!"

 

Did you remember

that the stockings were so full?

Outlined by the Christmas tree,

reflected in frail snow light,

children's toys spread across the floor

make the living room look strange and new.

It most surely could be true

that something supernatural happened

in the night.

This time quickly fades away.

Grandpa clock ticks off the hours

of Christmas day.

Night shades come down.

Worn out, the hot lights fade

and flicker from the crispy tree;

whiffs of tinsel, melted chocolate

and red apple sap

enclose us in a heavy semi-sleep;

too lazy now for gathering up debris.

We watch birch crackle on the fire

and feel too full to move,

yet still munch more;

we glance at football on the screen;

recall how month-long secrets

rose to fever pitch---?

climaxed!

-then passed us by---

all within an hour?

But the magic spell of Christmas

often reoccurs, and is reborn

in many different ways and comes

at any hour throughout our days,

as daybreak follows twilight

and it's dawn then dark then dawn again.

Autumn is always chased by Christmas

and the dead winter cycle.

 

But after the yearly thaws are past,

Spring breaks through the earth anew.

 

And summer days pursue the spring.

 

Yet soon the days begin to shrink again

and nights come early.

Our birthdays line up and pass by

adding still another measure to our score,

as our cycles come and go

and we rise and fall

on ever-turning tides

and move within the pattern

of life's force and flow.

 

"There is a time to laugh

and a time to cry."

But each day and night

the cycles and the seasons

of the passing years

are always like another birth,

and every time is like the first;

-full of wonder.

 

For through it all

we know the Guiding Principle within,

that there will always be

a time for you and me

to be reborn again.

New birth is Christmas in our hearts

that is a kind of feeling

we find at unexpected times.

 

We find it when we give ourselves

or take a gift of someone else.

 

We feel like Christmas never ends

when thoughts of care

pass back and forth

between good friends

and make us feel

a special happy way.

Love is Christmas

Every day!

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Background and graphic by Faith Draper