Greetings, loyal followers of Lucy’s Library. I’m not Lucy, but I do bring tidings of… not-so-great joy. 🤔 Blame it on me, being the great friend that I am, pulling out a random poem I wrote a few years ago. 😇 I slapped on some much-needed edits, and yet… it’s still not the normal, merry, happy-dancing-lights Christmas post you were probably expecting.
And that’s not what this poem is meant for.
Christmas is everything that Dai discovered on Lu’s flash fiction post yesterday… but it’s also Tobymac’s “Christmas Hits Different.” It’s the delight of watching snow flutter down with a hot mug of cocoa warming your hands… and it’s the wailing sirens of emergency vehicles. The joy of opening that new book, and the acute pain of the empty chair at the dinner table.
Yeah, Christmas is a time for rejoicing, for celebrating, but sometimes, we get too caught up in the need to be cheerful. Filled with the “Christmas spirit.” And that’s not what it’s all about.
Think about it. The birth of Jesus wasn’t perfect in the least (only the most). Neither is life, as my poem illustrates.
Take whatever you want from it, but if Christmas does hit different this year… you’re not alone, okay?
~Elisabeth Joy
Christmas–a season of light, music, cozy nights by a crackling fire.
A time of family, of love, of laughter, of magic.
But if you looked beyond the mask,
You’d find a side more tragic.
In a shadowed living room, by the darkened tree,
Stockings hang limply, lonely and empty.
Christmas Eve, and it’s not bright;
Where’s the joy to bound aplenty?
Under twinkling city lights,
A figure hunches against the cold.
Alone and forgotten, no place to go,
He longs for things once told.
Meanwhile, it’s all over the news—
A tornado has bulldozed through,
Rubbish and wreckage left in its wake,
Victims left to wonder if Yuletide is true.
Families mourn as carolers sing,
Going from door to door.
A mother opens hers with a smile
To hide her internal war.
Christmas–a time of loneliness, of hopelessness, of sorrow.
Say a prayer this Christmas, for the pain it brings.
And as you go about your way,
Take a closer look at things.
Lulu’s Library 