[Maryann Corbett]

The Suicides on Christmas Day

While Earth and Heaven celebrate,
and angels sing and church bells toll,
this flock of sad bedraggled souls
arrives at Heaven's gate.

They gaze at Jesus standing there.
With open arms he gathers them.
He doesn't question or condemn.
He understands despair.

[Jennifer Reeser]

Sadly, my initial reading of this comes on the very day I have learned that Rachel Wetzsteon has taken her own life. Not much on which I can comment here. It's been said religion saves souls, poetry makes them worth saving. While this poem certainly has no authority to save or prevent, it might urge some pity. Skillfully turned.

[Petra Norr]

If you're not religious, this little poem can at first seem childlike and naive. In fact it even struck me as a little corny. But after a couple reads, it suddenly appeals to me. It oozes faith, and I think I actually envy people who have this kind of faith and have enough of it to be able to write a simple poem like this and say to heck with those who snicker. The title is delightful; it's a tell-it-like-it-is title. And both text and title are clear as a bell, so there's no risk that anyone will get confused or lost during the read. I love how someone is there to welcome the suicides on Christmas Day. This poem is actually a little pearl.

[W.F. Lantry]

Wow! We were always taught to avoid despair, since it disdains mercy and questions the possibility of grace. But this turns the whole trope back on itself, and in that reminds me of Wright's St. Judas. What a hopeful poem, even if it doesn't seem so at first! And all that, and more, in a few tightly wrought lines.

Thanks,

Bill

[Cally Conan-Davies]

Truly and beautifully well-said.

[Donna English]

I think this is a beautiful poem. Humane thoughts that struck a chord in this atheist.

[Janice D. Soderling]

What Donna said.

[Petra Norr]

This poem probably works in a way the poet intended if you're aware that suicide is considered a sin, and that those who commit it are expected to go to Hell. But I myself didn't remember that detail until long after I'd read it. I just like the idea that sad people still have some place to go on Christmas Day, some place where someone welcomes them and cares about them. There's a sort of irony that appeals, but it's also touching and actually comforting.

[Susan McLean]

For a short poem, this one packs a punch. It is the only poem in this bunch that made me tear up, and although that isn't everything, it is rare enough to catch my attention. It has a largeness of spirit that risks looking sentimental. That is one of the forbidden areas these days, so I admire those who are willing to take the risk.

Susan

[Tim Murphy]

When I cast my vote for this wise poem, I did so despite my fierce disapproval of the plural/singular non rhyme enveloped in the first quatrain. I voted for this because I was suicidal myself for a long time, and because I think in its wisdom it is forgiving of those who are guilty of self-murder, some of them my friends. Hans Urs von Balthasar would have admired this poem, and I can't offer much higher praise than that.