[Holly Martins]

I don't remember there being too many Christmas poems on the Sphere last year and I haven't seen any this year - your folders must be bulging with them. Hallmark verses particularly welcome. Like this one:


CHRISTMAS SHIPS

They stand off Margate, saving mooring fees -
sometimes three dozen wait. From close to shore
a Polish coaler smokes, and on the breeze
a carol’s whistled from a galley door.

Against a darkening horizon, tramps
and super-tankers waiting for a berth
light Christmas trees high up on masts, with lamps
to beacon peace at sea, and peace on earth.

[Kevin Greene]

Holly, that's rather nice. I can see and hear all of it!

Kevin

[Maryann Corbett]

Rhina Espaillat has a lovely one about trimming the tree alone--I'll go hunt for it. Perhaps someone else will find it before I do....

[Maryann Corbett]

I realize this is D&A, and the call is for our own Christmas poems, but we've also done this theme on Mastery. I'll hunt for the links and put them here.

And while I'm at it, here's a link to Anna George Meek's "An Old Man Performs Alchemy on His Doorstep at Christmastime."

[Marion Shore]

Multicultual Season's Greetings

Have a happy Hanukkah;
may Bodhi Day be bright,
Al Hijra bring you joy,
and Kwanzaa give delight;

a joyful Eastern Orthodox
Nativity to you!
Are there any I forgot?
Oops! Merry Christmas too!

[David Anthony]

Heilige Nacht

A broken tank stands sentinel before
the salient where Rundstedt’s soldiers tried
to force a passage as their army died
that bitter Christmas, 1944.
By then they knew they couldn’t win the war
but fought to thrust their enemy aside—
for comrades, or obedience, or pride—
and, failing, knew they could have done no more.

Did the Child, who all those years ago
was born in hope, now look on in despair?
Perhaps, though I believe it was not so.
My thoughts return to lonely valleys where
the human spirit suffered in the snow
but still endured. It stood unbroken there.