Luke’s angels and the Christmas
cards
proclaim “Peace on Earth,” but the
local news
calls for more of the same, unrest
and bloodshed,
hatred and anger answered with guns
and death,
revenge in a world gone cruel and
selfish,
even men of God, by whatever name
He is called,
and politicians, the cynics,
forcing themselves,
their self-proclaimed prophecies,
on the diverse,
the different, the unorthodox,
and “Peace on Earth” is now but a dream
gone in waking
and a Christmas Card’s pretty wrapping
on a lost
and empty tradition of cards exchanged
and greetings
choed, Christ in Christmas and Merry Christmas not a Happy
Holiday
of political correctness, adding to
the stress
of the season, last minute gifts
and forgotten
friends misplaced in the rush to
Christmas morning’s
stockings hung and packages torn
from under the tree;
but on a clear night here at the
lake on Christmas Eve,
clear and quiet under a starlit sky
of darkest blue, moonless
and far from the guns of war and
domination, us against them,
a light snow begins, this silent
night, this holy night,
the faint jingle and jangle of
sleigh bells ringing out,
somewhere, and perhaps in the soft silence
of snow falling, a chorus of angels’
voices is raised,
angels singing that glorious song of
old, softly,
hushed, “Peace on the earth, Good will to men,
from
Heaven’s all gracious King,” and in the solemn stillness
lies the last strain carried
heavenward,
echoing in the quiet of a carol
ended;
and in the Peace of that moment, standing
there,
I can believe again in Christmas,
in Luke’s angels’
and the Greeting Cards’
proclamations,
believe again in the good will of
men seeking Peace,
a Peace shared this moment,
standing here on Christmas Eve –
“…
and on earth, Peace, Goodwill to men.”
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