Late Christmas Eve

Hilda Klassen

Candlelight strokes her face
features approach serenity
preparation has ended.
Crackling warmth
a trail of creative festivity
leads to her hands
idle now.
Mounds of gifts
tomorrow's feast waits.
Satisfaction plays
at the corners of her mouth
while children and husband sleep.

Across town the weak beam
from a naked bulb reveals
a strong lined face, etched with strain.
Low rental home
dittos those around it
heat rations
Brown wrapped packages
huddle in the corner
poverty relentless as sin.
No north pole visitor
to rescue his dignity as provider.

Centuries old
a smooth faced suckling infant
enters either setting.
Flailing limbs
miniature Deity
seeming innocence
has parted heaven's womb.
Non-threatening to non-Herods
in this guise
He is wrapped in cloths
and lies on a bed of straw
tiny breaths drawn in unison
with cattle nearby.
Hilda Klassen is a member of Forest Grove Community Church in Saskatoon, where her husband Wally is an associate pastor.

Return to the M.B.Herald Vol. 36, No. 23 Home Page