early departure
Christmas decor packed away
right after New Year
wise men looking for the star
see its light through bubble wrap
This is for Frank J. Tassone’s haikai challenge, and I am also linking it with JusJoJan day 18.
On January 2nd
Christmas
Rex Gentium
The King of all the people’s has come near,
Rex Gentium — this is the name we laud,
The name belonging only to our God,
Who tells us that we never need to fear
When His great scepter our life wholly guides.
To Him belong all power and control,
Authority and means to make us whole
And love, even when consolation hides.
The One come near can live inside of all
Who will to take upon themselves His yoke:
His yoke is easy and His burden light.
He comes to everyone who deigns to call,
To stoke the flame of love, and in grace soak:
Regard the precious infant born this night.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!
Chai Tea Coloring
This is for Linda G. Hill’s coloring club for December
I colored this today and accidentally got a smudge on the paper, but I do like how it turned out. It was also nice to enjoy chai tea while coloring (it was not just for the photo!). I hope your “cup runneth over” with blessings and companionship this season. Merry Christmas!
Some Questions
Why are there blueberries in winter?
When I bite into their sweetness,
Ought there to be a bit of bliss?
Why does discontentment stir,
When there are blueberries in winter?
Why do we string lights on Christmas trees?
When the land outside blanches,
Kept beneath evergreen branches
There is a hope that no eye sees.
Why do we string lights on Christmas trees?
This poem was inspired by the fact that I ate blueberries with breakfast yesterday, and that really should be amazing to ponder. The two stanzas could be read separately, but in a way I think they kind of fit together. Sharing this with Poets United.
Winter Transformation
Here are two tanka poems on the theme of transformation, for Heeding Haiku
Ordinary pine
Evergreen bedecked with lights,
Festive sentiments
Ornament memorials —
A shelter for wrapped presents
Thermostat heightened,
Scarves adorn shiverers’ necks,
Apple cider held
In hands ready to receive,
Leaning into winter’s day
All Aglow
This week’s quadrille prompt is the word “glow.”
Backdrop is the unlit room
On this chilly winter night:
Christmas tree is all aglow
With ornaments reflecting lights
And memories to give delight,
Despite some tastes of bittersweet.
See also branches, candy canes
Hanging from evergreen pines.
Regard the sweetness this season finds.
Walk By
This poem is partly inspired by Fandango’s one-word challenge, which is “daily.” I am also sharing with Poets United pantry.
Her shopping cart is filled, not with new gifts,
But with necessities, all that she has.
She shuffles down the sidewalk without home,
And passersby won’t look her in the eye.
I wonder if she shivers in the cold
And cry that she can’t find room in an inn.
Daily we walk by images of God
In people’s faces, without taking note. .
Christmas List
A sevenling inspired by Fandango’s one-word challenge: “task.”
Tasks to tackle before Christmas:
Finish gift purchases, and wrap
The presents, placing them under the tree.
Before that must unbox the tree
(Artificial but beautiful), decorate
The boughs with baubles, light candles…
It is necessary too, to savor rest.
The Week After Halloween
This week’s Heeding Haiku with Chèvrefeuille has the theme of Halloween.
Pumpkins and ghosts gone
Now on to Christmas season —
Wait, where’s Thanksgiving?!
Intervene
At DVerse today, Bjorn wants us all to write sonnets. I enjoy sonnets and wrote this one shortly before Christmas.
God came to us, and shared our sad estate,
Although glory supreme was His true right,
To live and die and rise, to confound fate,
To save His people from the darkest night:
For this He came, in time He intervened,
That all might be adopted as God’s sons,
Through Jesus’ blood all faithful souls are cleaned
And need not fear, for Father to them runs.
It matters not what happened in the past,
But only what the soul would wish today,
God wants to give to all a life that lasts,
And life on Earth in which we ever pray.
Now look upon the Lord in manger laid:
God-is-with-us, and He has always stayed.
