Noel Noel!

in the cold the starlight shines with more acuity

perhaps the angel wings are tipped in frost

and bending their harps to earth, their harps of gold

as the carol dreams even while we forget most of the words

we can

almost imagine that music lingering over over the hard earth

at the stringent outposts where the wooly sheep are guarded by semi outcasts.

the instant before the world seemed dark the age as well

till in another song like a winter rose

a child is born to set it right

and all the world is full of light

the faces of  witnessing shepherds dazed transformed

into visages of gold

tear streaked and on the windy plains.

above, beyond the centuries of pain.

mary angela douglas 8 december 2020