December 22nd

EVER GREEN

December twenty-second
Three days before
The Fest.

I sit in coal-black
Morning,
Waiting for my guest.

Examining
My conscience,
I spy the dinge and dirt

The howling wind
And icy sleet
Intensify the hurt.

So out into
The dark,
I trod in sleety snow,

Searching for
The evergreen
Of hope the Christmas glow.

The scent of incense
Candles
Stained glass of midnight blue,

Is where the whipping wintry
Wind
Has blown me in to view

The altar
Tabernacle
Poinsettias, Christmas trees

Red, green
Decorations,
I fall upon my knees.

For in a
Shadowed corner
Quite private there’s a door

Above a light.
Glows ever green…
Of hope, “Go sin no more!”