Twelve Days Til Christmas

picket fences 

too white for this coastal air

stand poised for decoration

ready to be draped with colored lights

emerging from a cardboard box

ready for the annual untangling

 

the snowman in the next yard

is filling with hot air

tipping like a metronome

and smiling with painted pride

as plastic penguins glisten with sweat

on the white ashes of a commercial conspiracy

 

give me a cup of steaming cider 

and a blanket to warm my feet

a golden bell to hang upon the door

and a pine scented candle to remind me

of distant mountains and breathing trees

 

i need no boxes or paper wrapping

no bows to prove that I belong

give me the echo of reminiscence

sweeter than any Christmas confection

and blissful souls to surround my table

decorated only with broken bread 

Reviews

[icelandicblue]

The sharing of food a bond on the most visceral level. Your choice of bread most telling in the simplicity of the item that is a staple of life. I liked this very much.

[Larry Dyson]

yes...well penned and thought out...the older we get the more we need less.

[Robert L. Franklin]

Great work, Sarah. I love the nod to what Christmas is when you strip away the commercialism. I hope it's a great one for you.

[Girl Friday (Sarah W.)]

Thank you so much, Robert!

[Pryde Foltz]

give me a cup of steaming cider
and a blanket to warm my feet
a golden bell to hang upon the door
and a pine scented candle to remind me
of distant mountains and breathing trees

A wry start that morphs into a lovely old world feel in the last two stanzas.

[Girl Friday (Sarah W.)]

Thank you, Pryde...that was my intention, the juxtaposition between the old and the new.

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

Thank you for this beautiful homage to the real meaning behind Christmas, far removed from the commercialization that is so prevalent in our society today.

My favorite line is “on the white ashes of a commercial conspiracy.”

For me, all of the plastic Santas and Snowmen are for the children, but I can’t believe how unbelievably gaudy some people can be with their decorations. The simplicity of a few lights is enough for me, and I would consider your poem to be one of those lights.

Excellently penned, as always!

[Girl Friday (Sarah W.)]

Thank you, Linda! I agree...there is a place for decoration, but when the true meaning of the season is lost in flashing lights and tinsel, we have all failed.