Time to Celebrate

In. the thin light, long nights
we gather, trees decked with light,
gifts wrapped and food prepared;

friends and family travel speeding
to the comfort of home, memories
of childhood past and newly laid
forgetting for a time the trauma of the year.

Pausing to celebrate the moment
a child was born, a star guided
strangers to a stable, shelter to
a homeless family, outcasts from the
bustle of the inn’s warmth.

Behind the drawn curtains, sparkling lights
the gathered friends and family
the joy of celebration pause, step outside
and look again for the single star

and when you see if breathe and think
take time away from celebrating
to find the peace, promised by the child
the birth outside the town, signalled

by a star, and strangers, travelling
celebrating this small birth.

Carolyn O’Connell 2016(c)\