for an old Advent song
Christmas is coming
and I hope the fat goose
is rescued
and the old man
gets at least
two pennies in the hat
and
God bless you
the goose
the man
the Cratchits
(vegetarian)
and you
c l couch
Christmas is coming;
the goose is getting fat.
Please to put a penny
in the old man’s hat.
If you haven’t a penny,
a ha’penny will do;
If you haven’t a ha’penny,
then God bless you!
(an old, famous, English doggerel—more antique-feeling, at least in these parts, with the extinction of the penny)
photo by Elijah Mears on Unsplash
Back of a union shield penny.
new year’s eve
the last week of the year
by the counting
of
the old
and present church
a purple season coming
or it’s popular
in blue
the green of churches
as well
and gatherings to
make it so
sometimes with soup
maybe chowder
(I
imagine chowder)
after
and thus these colors begin
with
poinsettias
red or pink or white
to be added
and
maybe there will be a tree
somewhere with
ornaments
could be
Chrismons
for ornaments
and
who knows whose presents
service
or wishes
underneath and all around
while some churches
will go
bare
for budgets or beliefs
and let the Christ child enter
to save alone
any human season
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photograph by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash
starry and a starry night
there’s a star over Moscow
and over Tehran
over Gaza
too
and over war-torn Bethlehem
also put-
together
in some seasons
we overuse the star
for movie players
and on
uniforms
we place one star
on our trees
and that is fun
we also place a star
over the creche
and that’s attractive
especially
if we happen to pay attention
to it
what it was
maybe we’ll never know
outside
a text of faith
and we can shape it
any way we want
our understanding
of the star
but star there was
some sort of beacon
for the magi
some sort of signal
over the family
as well
as over Earth
we think
we’re stars
the other way
not understanding Sagan’s
claim
we are star-stuff
we share the compounds
of a star
and maybe share its nature
too
to glow
to signal
understanding
that it such a bit place
we live on
and under
and maybe we could
stop splitting things
and come together
not under agenda
on a platform
but in a cave
a manger scene
quite humbly
together
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photo by Clarence E. Hsu on Unsplash
“Starwork”
(I don’t know where this is)
Two Days
(and two words)
If you have it
Enjoy the snow
Enjoy
Especially if it’s safe
And then go
Safely
Sorry
That’s parental
But you may say that anytime
To anyone
I think
And if you mean it
Then there’s a campaign
Afoot
To make the world safer
To change things with two words
Not bad for jazz
But then
Whatever you might think of jazz
It’s cool
And back to cold
(sorry
again)
We’re a few days into winter here
And I am fine
With cold air
And ground
And the new beauty of the trees
Though which may course
The angled brilliance
Of the sun
And in two days
Will be the day
But this
Is a day
Too
Deserving of its time
As any other
And specialized
Should we take the hours
In that way
Go safely
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Photo by Egor Myznik on Unsplash
The Remarkable
Advent ends
Because
Something has arrived
Something we can say is wonderful
As we understand the scope of
Things
The stakes
As it were
For what is coming
Is for everyone
Despite denominations
Or
Traditions
Or
Not holding with any
To belong
Because the great belonging comes
From this
An arrival meant
To rescue
Not in the worldly sense of any action
Previous
Any victory
Of ours
But in its own humility
Though
With modesty
Restraint
To teach
It’s the remarkable arriving
For our world that
Is
So loved that
This singular
Salvific process
If
Echoed throughout everything
With enough to talk
To share
Shall begin
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Photo by Sergey Turkin on Unsplash
Each Resurrection
Into the ground
The flesh of us
Organs inside the shell
Even
The ash of us
Return
Because the story goes
We came from there
And in that way
And
Exceptions notwithstanding
Must go back
It doesn’t end
We do believe
For those who do
Believe
That
There is more
A when
Even a where beyond
The mantle of the Earth
Rather
To the edge of heaven
There to judge
With any
Advocates
How things had gone
How awry
We treated
All the laws of God
Even the simple two
Commanding
Like the rest
Yet
Over
With the strength
And practicality
Of love
And so we rise and maybe to
Fine
Satisfying lives to come
I don’t know about clouds
And harps and
Such
Or everything be gold
Or the color of
Fresh snow
For all the tones
And textures
Here
For beauty
And sensation
More so the dynamos of life
Inside each one
They could continue
Now
Perfected
With open will and
New assignments
So that
What is to come
Is
So much more than cells
And atoms
Smaller things
To know
Someday
And all the larger matters
That
We took as Earth
And farther
As our media for strategy
Ambition
And the like
Because in all
Significance
Even to shadow meaning
Well
They were
It could be that heaven
Or what
Might be
Is more interesting
And active
Finally
A virtue out of busy
We don’t how perfected
And could there be
An element
Of risk
At hand
Depending
All the energy
The health
And who knows
What
And yet
The more
The most
Exciting days
To come
And though our call be not
To hurry
Still
This is what we have
In the offing
And to earn it by the balance
Or by grace
Cost
And accepted
Freely
So that we might get there
And
Once there
Without doubt
Are welcomed
To the
What’s next
Of eternity
Amen
As in
So it shall be
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Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
Time Kept by the Ox and Lamb
Mary nodded
Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
The ox and lamb kept time
Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
A wonderful
Metered
And who knows
Maybe jazzy moment
As
We’re talking
Myth
And magic
More imagination
Overall
The ox and lamb
They kept
Time
While the drum was played
By a boy
Not a grown-up
For this first
Time
Not by a symphony
If there were a chorus
One of angels
It might have gone
Pianissimo
Then
Mary nodded
She could have tapped her toes
Or snapped her fingers
Though she was
After birth
And if she had been tired
She might have been tired
Then
And it might have been enough
To nod
As well as Joseph
After the efforts with all things
Arranging
Only nodding
Too
And then at midnight
All the animals
Join in
With voices we could hear
As being ours
Which is the legend
So that there’s magic upon magic
Contemporary
Ancient
Added to the textual lore
For fun
Perhaps
And without doubt
For meaning
And so let all created things exist
Parents
Children
Animals
Imagination and
Stories to tell
To sing
Maybe like animals at midnight
In a tappy
Or a jazzy way
Even a little wild
Like the passing of the Spirit
Through
And for
All things
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The song “Little Drummer Boy,” first known as “Carol of the Drum,” was written by Katharine Kennicott Davis, appearing in 1941.
Photo by Carlos Coronado on Unsplash
god of what’s next
there is a
temple
toward which
all temples point
all
temples belong
there is a myth
toward which
all myths
belong
and have a share
in truth
there is a story
of all earth
we do not know
because the earth is wide
and old
and layered
with one chapter
on which
another pressed
open
the lore of earth
to find that
we’re all there
heroes
and villains
as we choose
or were conditioned
or those
who load the guns
or apply the salves and bandages
after
who plant
who dance
who seek approval
for good food
in a harvest
and safe water
for
the seeds
of plants
and also of the children
all of earth
someday
perhaps
to be children of mars
or proxima
where our myths
will go with us
and be transformed
toward
the temple
and the truth
we’ll need to take with us
as us
sorry
no need to reinvent the lord
more than we have
though we might find
a thoroughness of mind
and heart
to keep
a civil altar
and a loving congregation
of humanity
with whom we meet
we hope
to accept us
and new names
for one
in the lord
it gets
confusing
and confused
we guess
but we will have to learn the points
of truth
with light
the meaning
and the words
before
all of us
may and
shall
sing together
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photo by Mitch Gaiser on Unsplash
the unchanging manger scene
don’t stop me
if you’ve heard this
it’s a Christmas question
about the magi
and their placement
in the creche
because we tend to know
or to believe
or to opine
that these persons from
well
the east of east
did not find Jesus
for two years
or more
not maybe less
and then it was to visit
inside Nazareth of Galilee
and was the flight
to Egypt
by the way
before or after
well
the visit of the magi
anyway
after some time
after the shepherds
angels in the sky
though angels could return
whenever
called
so there might
in fact
be layers to the experience
history
and story
and yet we put them altogether
on church lawns
all the characters
in what we call
Nativity
because that’s what it is
a fancy word
for birth
fancy enough
for shepherds and for monarchs
(not meaning butterflies)
angels
and animals we say
could talk at midnight
and that’s the thing
I guess
each one is unique
and they all
come together
with the single purpose of
welcoming
the Christ-child to the world
of people
and animals
and now
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photo by Patti Black on Unsplash
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