Christmas 2022
In the season of snow
I pull against the restraint
of weary nights and biting air,
looking out across the valley
at the towering firs,
green against gray morning skies.
Crows gather on the hill top
in chestnut and gum trees
stripped for winter vigil.
Feeling more tree than mortal
I reach out to the wet earth,
gain purchase in the soil
and from dark root strength
lift each branch toward light.
Suddenly I’m airborne,
soaring into the beyond.
Mineral and animal yet
with spirit woven in my wings:
the joy to rise, a weightless grace
and a second birth of holiness
on this Christmas morning.
photograph by Thomas Kast
Reading of “Second Birth” with music by Vince Guaraldi
Merry Christmas 🎄 Don!
There’s great strength in your words this morning, Don. I’ll heed the call.
Don — Beautiful! Thanks for sharing. Merry Christmas!
Lovely, Don. Merry Christmas to you!
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Merry Christmas, Don. Thank you for the gift of this poem. I can think of no kinder witness to the beauty of this earth than your words this morning.
Joyful, strong and free. Like us!
Merry Christmas to all and especially the bard.
Beautiful Don, and deeply grounding. Thank you
Merry Christmas to you and Linda. Much love ❤️ Namaste
Nature has had her fill of fallen man and will shake him off no matter his gaming the design. She longs for her Lord and king, the creator of heaven and earth, and humankind is meaningful to her only to the extent it acknowledges that the ‘ earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein’. Let the wellsprings of her year rise in us to that second birth in the regeneration of heaven on earth. New year blessings one and all.
Don, thank you for the fine, quiet reflection as Christmas takes place.
Right on Don! I am ever so thankful for your weekly release of radiant poems, evidence of the rebirth of wonder week after week, cycle after cycle; evidence of the vigour and fertility of your mind and heart, your Spirit, and allowing evidence of our grateful movement together. And Hugh has spoken well: right on Hugh! Love and blessings.
Don, as I listen to you read your words, I soar into the beyond with you. What joyous flight! Holiness is born again.