For FOTD
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I’m Not Dreaming of a White Christmas
I’m not dreaming
of a white Christmas
bedecked with tinsel
and mistletoe.
That bougainvillea spilling down the wall
is festive enough.
Who said a Christmas had to be
composed of personal memories decades old?
I like a little sand in my Christmas,
good friends and not a holly sprig in sight—
our memories being made,
not dwelled upon.
Where was the snow in Bethlehem?
On what day did Santa finally arrive,
bag laden with gifts more frivolous
than gold, frankincense and myrrh?*
What we celebrate at Christmas
is more than anything
Bing Crosby
might have devised.
The warmth of friendship.
Finding those things,
in spite of our many differences,
that are the same.
That first Christmas
celebrated in the desert,
there was a star.
The animals were its first celebrants.
Only afterwards
came those wise men
who in their gifts
predicted its ending.
*The three gifts had a spiritual meaning: gold as a symbol of kingship on earth, frankincense (an incense) as a symbol of deity, and myrrh (an embalming oil) as a symbol of death. This dates back to Origen in Contra Celsum: “gold, as to a king; myrrh, as to one who was mortal; and incense, as to a God.”
The word prompts today were white, compose, bedeck and festive.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/22/rdp-saturday-white/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/22/fowc-with-fandango-compose/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/22/bedeck/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/22/your-daily-word-prompt-festive-December-22-2018/
https://lindaghill.com/2018/12/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-22-18/
Isidro and I met at Viva Mexico to discuss illustrations for our next book. He now has three of my children’s books stacked up to illustrate. This one is entitled “I Really Want A Puppy.” It’s quite a job as he needs to come up with at least 7 different puppy characters as well as a family of six: two children, Mom, Pop and grandparents as well as friends. (Click on the first photo to enlarge photos and see captions.)
I tried cropping, but I love the wire, the cracked pot, the unruly grass. Had to put it all back. I’m pretty sure this is a Gazania, mainly judging from the one on the left.
For FOTD
This beauty was in my friend Gloria’s garden. It would look great in an arrangement with Cee’s flaming hot peppers.
For Cee’s FOTD
Intervening with the Solstice
They’re intervening with the solstice. We’re requiring more light,
though adding one more month to summer simply isn’t right.
They’ll put a manmade light up in the sky next to the sun.
We’ll have summer the whole year through once mankind is done!
Next, they’ll augment infinity and make the rain much wetter.
There’s nothing like a mortal man for making nature better!
For another poem on the subject of the solstice, go HERE.
The prompts are solstice, intervene and infinity.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/21/rdp-friday-solstice/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/21/fowc-with-fandango-intervene/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/21/infinity/
I can’t answer the prompt “Believe” without rerunning this blog from a few years ago. Go HERE to see it.
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/21/your-daily-word-prompt-believe-December-21-2018/
Balance
It is so very easy to trap wonder in a box
and to view the world around you as a sort of pox
festering and viral like a plague about to burst,
to only see the suffering, to just take in the worst.
Our news is geared to tell us the most spectacular ills.
They profit from the awfulness. It’s we who pay the bills.
It’s true we need to know about the evil that men do,
but once the right shoe drops, we need to see the left foot, too.
What beauties lie within our world like pods about to flower?
What are the kindnesses performed hour after hour?
Christmas will have Scrooges and each glory its detractor,
but as we view the acts of man, grace is also a factor.
We need to stem the violence, the cruelty and greed,
but to view the selfless acts of man is just as strong a need.
Listen to wind’s harmonies. Note tall grass’s swaying.
Find the things in life that make living worth the staying.
“Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing things historians usually record; while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks of the river.” ―
The prompt words today are pod, easy, wonder and Scrooge. Here are the links:
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/20/rdp-thursday-pod/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/20/fowc-with-fandango-easy/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/20/wonder/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/20/your-daily-word-prompt-scrooge-December-20-2018/
