Friday, December 21, 2012

My Christmas Poem


This morning I awoke to find our mountain blanketed with snow. The first snow right here I think, but we will have more. It reminded me of the Christmas poem I revisit each year. I wrote this poem years ago, but sadly the ending never changes. Children still live in fear - still live with war.


Snow at Christmas
by Glenda C. Beall

Silent December snow covers
grey mountain forests, clings
to thin bare branches of oaks,
poplar and ash.

It mounds on brown wide leaves
still hanging on to stubborn trees
that, until now, denied winter’s presence.
Holly bushes crowned with snow

create photo ops for Christmas cards.
Rooftops iced in white, frosted
gingerbread houses, await
Santa's footsteps.

Red ribbons on our mailbox
collect crystal flakes
within curving bows,
on bunched pine boughs.

Kayla hangs her stocking, dreams
of Barbie dolls, gift wrapped boxes
piled high beneath her brilliant
Christmas tree.

We light a candle in the snow.
Pray for children around the world,
who long for peace, a cup of soup,
an end to fear -- an end to
war.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this poem. If any subject sucks me into a poem, it's snow. That white stuff alters our landscape and mundane reality so much that it becomes a fertile playground for the imagination.

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  2. Absolutely, Robert.
    I think you are all having snow tonight, but where I am we have only cold wind.

    I always love the snow days in the mountains and do some of my ruminating on those days.

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  3. Glenda,
    This is a beautiful poem. Thanks for sharing the lovely images with us.
    Happy New Year!

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  4. As a northerner I find this almost too evocative. We lived in the country, decorated our mailbox as you did, loved the snow (when we had nowhere to be), and did our best not to be disheartened by those less fortunate in places where no one even knew of blessings like our own. You caught the spirit of all that perfectly and simply. Thank you.

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  5. Thank you, Joan, for stopping by and leaving your comment. North or south, we have so many similarities, and so much to be thankful for here in this country. Hope your new year holds nothing but joy and peace and good health.

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