Lest we let emotions long gone dry – Rejoice and run amok!
When familiar chords of carols sung from the pickup bed of one old truck
Make children all of us even now as we let our windows of the heart
Pull out once more our childish things to delight in and impart
How Christmas evokes memories among the red and green
I contemplate and recall then the faces that I’ve seen
Loved ones’ habits, tables replete with sweetbreads, wine and herbs
Each childhood window of my heart clearly starts to emerge
Neighbors bustling, children wonder entering the door
Pyramids of packages – can one have hidden more?
Repeated settings, ornaments come out again each year
And mark again another time long gone yet no less dear
Yes, it’s winter! That means Christmas can’t be far behind!
As my personal projector reruns visions in my mind
A neighbor’s stoop, an old-time friend, the smells of familiar dishes
Classics all, yet each time brings yet another round of wishes
Tradition that instills again a seasonal desire for a fresh-scented evergreen wreath
Slippery streets driving home at night, street décor hanging just beneath
Power lines wishing a very “Merry Christmas!” in a weathered sort of way,
The garland barely hanging on, the banners whip and sway
My Christmas spirit cannot start, nor can miles and two score dim
A watchful angel hung above, some stockings for added mirth
The prayers that the next generation might know Him
God’s Only Son made Man, and Celebrate His Birth!
