Crowning the Tree and Fingerprints

Crowning the Tree 11/25/2011

We walked around the city square
Looking in the shops
Warm and inviting
Glowing like little jewels
In a field of gray.

The street lights are adorned with Christmas
Just as they should be
Shining brightly in the night
As the music fills my ears.

They have wrapped the trees in lights
And the carolers surround the tree
Towering above our heads
And heavy with stars.

My son babbles wide-eyed
At all the magic he sees
A world full of promise
That has only just begun.

For the moment
We are all one
Living through another memory
Perfect, cool and clear.

Another precious moment
When I have all I could dream
With love all around me
In my arms
And in my heart.


Fingerprints 11/25/2011

Sometimes you have to guess
And sometimes you have a hunch
But there will always be
Somethings that you know
Things you can feel
In your heart and in your blood.

We can feel the excitement
And we can sense the danger
As we inch closer to the edge
And stare down into the abyss.

We can see it on their face
In the subtle signs of truth
Whether they are vain or humble
Arrogant or amused.

You can tell the seasons
By the fruit
And the days by the moon
Marking time with the cycles
Of planting and harvest
Birth and death.

We can drop rocks from a window
And know that they will drop
By weight and mass
They all fall to earth.

The stars move across the heavens
And the navigators trace their movements home
Gazing upwards forever
In the middle of the sea.

Though the world may be gray
And covered with fog
You know where the trail turns
Because you have taken it before.

I am here
And I should know why
Because if I don’t
Then I never learned a thing.

Words can tell a story
But memory tells the truth
And if we want to change
Then we must do it now.

I am on the side of the road
And it is a long walk home
Left out to lighten the load
And forgotten in the dust.

I don’t mind the walk
Because I know where it ends
Closer and closer
To the end.

I know the words
Even before they are said
And I know the reasons
Without having to ask.

It all traces backwards
To the same hand and mouth
The same today as yesterday
Predictable and dead.

The leaves are falling
And so also shall the guilty
After using up all their strength
And running out of grace.

The words still resonate
And the truth still matters
For those with a mind
And a heart of their own.

What has gone up
Shall also come down
And evil men shall perish
Just as they have killed.

Morning has past
And bloodshed
Does not herald a spring
Nothing but the fullness of time
Wearily dragging itself home.

Time shall even out
And make us pay back our debts
To each as he has done
And to each
What they have wrought.