catching a breath
in the small town where
we lived before this one
one of the houses on
our way home filled
their yard with
inflatable Christmas
things Santa snowmen
reindeer to name a few
each was filled with
air and light and made
their corner lot
the beacon of the
neighborhood
until daybreak
when they turned off
the power and all
the figures fell flat
on the lawn leaving
what looked like
a Christmas massacre
until darkness came and
they filled with air and light
again as though they were
inhaling the night
and exhaling the dawn
a better image than
imagining they had
fallen over because they
were as tired as we felt
some days driving home
and wondering what
it would take to stay
inflated all the time
maybe it wasn’t a
massacre after all
but a kindness
a way of saying
breathe breathe
we’ll get through this
Peace,
Milton
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having worked through 35+ Advent and Christmas seasons, this VERY MUCH resonates with me. It’s perfect. Thank you.