Christmas Gifts - A Poem

 (Since it's still Christmas by the Catholic reckoning of things, I reserve the right to post about Christmassy things...)

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Christmas Gifts

Imagine if Christmas gifts under the tree

Were unwrapped, left open, for all eyes to see.

As each day grew closer to coming Yuletide,

We’d pass without wond’ring what joy lay inside.

We’d walk past and see every box without lid,

Not a bow to conceal the great secret it hid.

Oh, how dull it would be if things were this way,

If we knew every present before Christmas day!

On Christmas Eve, we’d be untempted to sneak,

Untempted to spy, untempted to peek,

For a glimpse of our gifts would be quite commonplace,

No surprise, no excitement to make the heart race,

No great hopes, no great dreams, no great wishes built high

No guess made every minute as hours ticked by,

No anticipation - there might be no shout

When, on Christmas morn, all the presents were out.

Without a great secret or any surprise,

Our interest would fall, and our boredom would rise.

Why, the ingrates we are, we might not even blink

If the whole world were set down before us, I think!

And, perhaps, some would say, with a yawn or a snore -

“Oh, it’s only the world, yes, we’ve seen it before.”

Oh, dear Lord, was it this that You held in Your Mind

When You made Yourself known to our fickle, old kind?

Did You make Yourself Man - clothed with flesh ‘stead of fire -

So that we’d pay You heed when You raised Yourself higher?

Do You hide Yourself under a veil of white

Like a bride hides her face before her wedding night?

Oh, perhaps in the moment You made us, You knew

How waning our nature, how childish, untrue,

And, perhaps, with the sighs of a love from afar,

You hid Yourself from us, so as not to mar

Our coquettish interest, our curious need

To see Your Face fully and know You indeed.

Perhaps, Lord, You’ve wrapped Yourself only to lift

Our eyes, ever-searching, to our Christmas Gift.

J.M.J