Every year, I write a poem for Christmas, and include it in my Christmas cards to friends and family. For the days leading up to Christmas, I’m publishing all of my Christmas poems here, as a kind of Advent calendar.
Today’s poem was written in 2012. I took my 3-year-old daughter to Bethlehem, PA that December to see, among other things, the “Star of Bethlehem” shining above South Mountain. She called it “the star that looks like a snowflake.”
“That star looks like a snowflake!
That hill can’t be too far!
Is baby Jesus real?
Hey! That snowflake’s still a star!”
I’ve done this all a thousand times
I know this story well
But newer eyes catch newer drifts
And jingle older bells
The candles of tradition
Can wax until they wane
Then suddenly a starflake
Rekindles love again
For Christmas is the new day
Not merely ancient lore
The dawn of hope and faith succeeds
December twenty-four
May Christmas bring us new life
Evergreen and bright
May Christmas bring a snowfall
That lifts us up from night
