Tag Christmas

dVerse Meet the Bar – What lies beneath?

freyathewriter 6 Comments

There is no telling what you will see
Lying in wait under the tree
Distracted by baubles, I have no mind
Of the type of present you will find
Here’s to hoping it will be
Something apt for you, from me!

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Slightly late to the party here, it’s time for Meet the Bar over on dVerse – the host in the lively and noisy pub (cos you know, poets reciting in all the corners!) is the lovely Björn.

He introduces us to a delightful Swedish custom of adding a simple rhyme verse to Christmas presents, which they open on Christmas Eve. He invites us to share our present poems with the rest of the bar.

Mine is, as ever, a little sideways, but also apt. My memory lets me down on occasion – doesn’t yours?

Please head on over to the dVerse poets pub – settle in, read, maybe join in? You’re always welcome!

Malakhi

freyathewriter 2 Comments

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A teacher, a rabbi came to this earth

courtesy of a star, a manger and a virgin birth.

Ages before, despite the temple’s destruction

oil of one day stretched out to eight –

– imagine the miracle!

Hope lights our times, shadows flee in their wake

Hanukkah, Christmas in one time combined.

Faiths diverge but converge all the same

in their wishes for peace and love and brotherhood,

if you can cut through the soundbites and posturing, that is.

I am a mongrel, one foot in the Deep Mid Winter of my past

My heart swelling to Baruch Hu as I whisper Kaddish in memory.

Y’hei sh’lama raba min sh’maya

Bitter sweet at this time of disruption

For all that is gone, for all that has broken

For all that divides in words left unspoken.

Amen.

Shalom.

Salaam.

Shalom Aleichem.

As Salaam Aleikum

Oseh shalom bim’romav hu ya’aseh shalom

Let us welcome the Malakhi, in whatever form he – or she – takes.

******

It’s been a while. Longer than I thought. Life, you know?

Last night saw the first night of Hanukkah and Christmas Eve – two miracles for the price of one. It inspired me to take some time during a small oasis of calm to share my thoughts, my feelings, to highlight just a tiny slice of the similarities in the underlying hopes of the three Abrahamix religions, not to mention in some of the words used in greetings and wishes bestowed.

Yes, it’s probably a bit clumsy (I’ve not written for a while) – but it’s all me.

Whatever faith you follow or not, I send my love to you, my brothers and sisters in this messed-up, argumentative worldwide family of ours.

 

The Message – dVerse Poetics

freyathewriter 42 Comments

This week’s dVerse Poetics is asking us to write about Alice in Wonderland and advent – I love a challenge!

I hope you enjoy my offering – written on the fly and with the wonderful line drawings of my dog-eared copies of Alice in Wonderland and A Christmas Carol floating around in my head.

Please visit dVerse to read the other thoughts of my fellow poets!

– The Message –

The heartless Queen rules o’er all the land
Alice stops her with just one hand
and a little help from her madcap friends
Turning tyranny to sweeter ends

The appeal of miracles and festive joy
Once a lump of coal and a handmade toy
Old-fashioned ideals lost in desire
for the next big thing to which many aspire

A cozy home and a family together
Are all we need in this inclement weather
Big presents, grand gestures are oh so passé
Shelter and love are the needs for today

So let’s be like Alice, stand up to the foe
of rampant consumerism – let it all go
The still, small voice will change society’s tack
And turn our attention to the real things we lack