Winter 2004 Index
Merry Christmas, But Please…
Don't Invert the Christmas Tree
The One Gift
Ophelia R.Lopez
MERRY CHRISTMAS, BUT PLEASE . . .
Don't Invert The Christmas Tree!
Ah! Christmas partying indeed, is now on everyone's mind
Where shop-till-you-drop-gifts for every human kind,
and fiesta food with merrying plans are coming together
around a Christmas tree
and Santa's picks!
Time crunching is the name of the game.
Frantic lists, cards, lights and decor,
cleaning up and clearing out
living room litter, to make
way for a tall tree, candles
and holly wreaths!
But how about us stopping to step aside . . .
To think of ways to quench a spirit so parched.
Music I guess, is a means to seek, as a soothing salve
for the harried mind that can fill itself
with some remembering music,
and able to hum along with a steaming cup of tea,
to sing and tune out those weighty,
wearying blues! Or,
coming to a beach, sitting by a lonely sea
is one other beautiful escape that can clear
a roiling state of mind, to let lapping waves
wash away the Season's countdown
jitters! Or maybe,
how about an early dawn walk?
Yes, a long walk along nature's trail,
to calm a restive mind that's
quite a-losin' it's grip!
For, Christmases are
not merely for what
the eyes can see,
nor what the
ears can hear,
but to
feel
with
H
E
A
R
T
!
^TOP^
The One Gift
‘Tis the season of giving
But it too is the season of
great misgivings, as
the mind becomes a cynic,
drummed up by anxiety
and peer madness!
One glosses over the glitter,
the tinsel and the lights,
the glut of toys and doodads
everywhere; the electronic
gadgets that one can never
catch up to, not to speak of
all those video games that
zap minds into numbness.
Ads galore thicken newsprint
distracting us from all the
news that matters.
So it’s time to keep our wits
and our souls together,
since the season feeds
the virus of consumerism
into our very bloodstream.
We worry about giving, but
it’s giving for impressing,
and that’s a bit depressing,
because we overspend
to gift things that one’s
means cannot sustain.
Why not give for pure giving’s
sake in a way that the veneer
of intent is thinned out
to reveal the true grain
of the “wood” of our hearts,
rather than what we
think people will see . . .
Since, not to forget that then,
on that very first Christmas
was God’s ultimate of Gifts,
but in a very understated way . . .
The Babe Jesus so sweetly came,
but oh! so humbly,
and so sincere!
^TOP^
