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Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year to everyone.

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)\

Call for Submissions: A Face in the Mirror, a Hook on the Door (An Anthology of Urban Legends & Modern Folklore)

We are now accepting submissions of poetry and flash fiction based on urban (or rural, or suburban, or the internet…) legends and modern folklore from any culture and any continent until Mond…

Source: Call for Submissions: A Face in the Mirror, a Hook on the Door (An Anthology of Urban Legends & Modern Folklore)

The Power of the Word

He lay silent,
wordless trapped in a body of pain
no movement possible no hope of recovery.

Outside the trees sang their arias
conducted by the breeze
it was a painting of life

his eyes rested on the light.
She sat beside him stroking his hand
passing the touch of life with every stroke
as she read poetry the soft words
familiar rhythms entered his ears

brought healing peace through this sense
as the day slipped into evening’s song
the poems became prayers.

…

Source: The Power of the Word