Creche Amidst the Holly

...a house in the Bronx...

***************************

In the 5th grade, I won the Quiet Contest. It wasn't difficult as I was at an all girls' school with chattering students who had known each other since infancy. I couldn't keep up with the cast of characters and knew that I wouldn't be attending for more than a few months Such was the traveling life. My desk was by a bank of windows looking out on a tropical garden with bright heaping cumulus clouds framing it like a ceiling in a wayside chapel. So I drifted off daydreaming the hours away. Nary a word was heard from me--quiet as could be. The prize was a white porous stone Nativity set complete with twelve lambs and seven angels. I was probably supposed to paint it but alabaster was one of my favorite word--"Safe in their alabaster chambers"--snowy was perfect for me. As far as holiday decorations go, a Nativity set beats all. In San Francisco, in Muslim shop selling Levi's, I saw the best ever and the first with an elephant the detail of which was fit for a raj. The photo that decks the high branches of the Treehouse was taken when Pasquale drove us past a house where the decorations were extravagant to the degree that they included a Liberace style piano and an electrical engineer's masterwork of embedded outlets. I focused on the roof scene with my camera as it reminded me of, "Peace on earth, goodwill..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thinking Christmas 1964

A paling ornament of "Baby's First Christmas" is

likely a pun: the creche/1964.

Jennifer was sitting up then in her red smocked dress

ready for a stroller outing

along the pitching sidewalk of Clipper Street,

heading towards the bells of Mission Dolores.

Downtown, Woolworth's sparkled with specialty cakes; the

Emporium's expansive dome seemed to say, "All wishes

come true if you seek a place high enough and arched."

Some things have changed since that time.

She likes lime green now. Urban renewal dazzles

Market with shifting glass reflections, like searchlights.

Clipper Street is the same, though. The wishes I made

for goodness and mercy are still sent, and the promise

of the Prince of Peace continues to exhilarate me.

Come Thou to my heart.

Each year is a kaleidoscope clicking with losses and additions,

timeless fragments glimpsed quickly--

verse/refrain, into the middle and back again.

~~~~~~~~~~~

...may your heart be as festive as your wreaths and garlands

and your souls light up the world...