Christmas Eve and Other Stories

(Christmas Eve and Other Stories Poetry)

In an old city bar
That is never too far
From the places that gather
The dreams that have been

In the safety of night
With its old neon light
It beckons to strangers
And they always come in

And the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
The music was low
And the night
Christmas Eve

And here was the danger
That even with strangers
Inside of this night
It was easier to believe

For it was into this bar
That I happened to wander
To stare into a glass
And my universe ponder

So I walked up to the counter
Shook the snow off my coat
Then I ordered a whiskey
That I used like a moat

But an old man soon joined me
And asked if I knew the time
One word led to another
And somehow I didn't mind

Then he offered a drink
From a bottle 'neath his coat
And he smiled a little smile
As it trickled down my throat

And I felt myself relaxing
Here among the ghosts that failed
Then the old man topped my glass off
And began this little tale

In the moments of our lives
Both the joyous and the tragic
If the truth is to be told
We are all pursuing magic

And the magic that we seek
As we're sure you have discovered
Can be found in certain places
Far more easily than others

In the sand beneath the Sphinx
In the dreams of candlelight
But the surest place of all
Is in the forgiving world of night

And of all the nights throughout the year
That come and gently leave
None hold the dream of magic
Like the evening, Christmas Eve

And so it's on this night
With its promise deep within
As the snow now starts to fall
Our story does begin

An Angel Came Down

A Star To Follow

The sound that he had heard
Was the ringing of the bells
But now inside that night
There were voices there as well

A Star To Follow

First Snow

When the final note had faded
The angel continued on his search
For he knew the answer to his quest
Was somewhere on this Earth

And from London, Rome and Paris
To Berlin and Tokyo
Wherever the angel flew that night,
The skies would start to snow

The Silent Nutcracker

As he flew over the Ural
He came upon a little town
Shining in the Arctic darkness
So the angel, he set down

Then he walked among the people
In a fitting Earth disguise
So no one recognized him
Though they wondered at his eyes

And there was one other thing
The people found both wonderful and strange
How no one who saw him there that night
Was ever quite the same

It was the way they saw their neighbor
It was the way they saw this night
It was the way they saw each stranger
By that star’s distant light

He joined them in their merriment
Which was about to start
For angels love a happy soul
Like they love a childlike heart

A Mad Russian's Christmas

Then he asked a village peasant
What do Russian hearts desire?
He answered peace on Earth, of course
and a little, "Stolichnaya"

The Prince Of Peace

As the angel flew those endless miles
He thought about the Christmas Child
Born in a time now far away
And how that Child’s dream had reached this day

And he wondered what
That Child had thought
And when he slept
What dreams he sought

And did the shepherds understand
All the hopes in that Child’s hands?

And how those hopes
Would still survive
As dreams within
Each newborn’s eyes

The Prince Of Peace

Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24

As he flew o'er Sarajevo
There were scars upon the land
There were scars upon the people
It was hard to understand

And the deepest scars of all
Which to humans are unseen
But the angel could see clearly
Were the scars upon the dreams

Like Belfast and Burundi
Rwanda, Palestine
The only decorations here
Had been awarded for their crimes

And in gardens where the children played
Now soldiers only trod
And stranger still, he heard some say
That they were killing for their god

Now the angel heard God speak many times
And he had always paid attention
But this killing of one’s neighbor
Was something the Lord had never mentioned

But as he neared the Earth
Of a recent battleground
From among the ruins
He once more heard the sound

It was a single cello playing
A forgotten Christmas song
And even on that battlefield
The song somehow belonged

And as he flew away
The angel did take note
That where he found this music played
One always could find hope

Good King Joy

As he flew over the countryside
He was still listening
When from a little church below
He heard a voice begin to sing

Good King Joy

Ornament

Then he reached for the song
And he held it in his hand
(It was something that he did
Because you see, angels can)

And he wondered to himself
"Is this the answer that I sought?"
But something was still missing
Or at least, so he still thought

And so he journeyed on
Through the midnight winter air
When all at once our angel
Felt the touch of a man's prayer

And looking once more to the Earth
To determine whence it came
He felt a million souls below
But one was not the same

For there he saw a man alone
Though he was walking in a crowd
And though this man had rarely prayed
Tonight his head was bowed

For even in a crowd, you see
A heart can feel alone
When the night is Christmas Eve
A child is not at home

So from a father to the Lord
A prayer did swiftly race
But the angel saw it first
And he listened to its case

Ornament

The First Noel

After he had heard the prayer
The angel gently set it free
And followed it to the father's child
In a far away city

And there the girl in desperation
Was searching through the sky
For a star that she could wish upon
But stars were in short supply

And the only light that she could see
There shining all alone
Was a neon sign on an old bar
And so on this, she wished she was home

Old City Bar

Now every light can be a star
Just depends on where you are
And the distance that you're looking
Past the places you have been
And the dreams you’ve left behind
And the dreams you’ve left within

Old City Bar

Promises To Keep

Then all at once inside that night
He saw it all so clear
The answer that he sought so long
Had always been so near

It's every gift that someone gives
Expecting nothing back
It's every kindness that we do
Each simple little act

Promises To Keep

This Christmas Day

And so it's good that we remember
Just as soon as we've discovered
That the things we do in life
Will always end up touching others

So from a fading neon star
Somewhere shining in the night
We find a father far away
Now reflecting in its light

This Christmas Day

An Angel Returned

So the girl had reached her home
And the bar was closing down
As the angel started back
To bring his Lord what he had found

An Angel Returned

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

(Closing Poetry)

And so with his story over
And our bottle nearly through
I asked, “Did this really happen?”
He swore every word was true

Then he said, “I see you're puzzled
For your mind tells you to doubt me
That my story can't be true
But your heart tells you, it might be”

He then asked, did it entertain me
And I admitted it had charm
Then he said, “Perhaps you have learned something
Or at worst I've done no harm”

Then he rose up from his chair
And he said it's time that he should leave
“But may God keep and protect you
This, and every Christmas Eve”

Then he left through the front door
And I ran out to ask him back
But he was already gone
And stranger still he left no tracks

So I walked back to my home
Recalling all I've heard and seen
And for the first time since my childhood
That night I dreamed a Christmas Dream

MERRY CHRISTMAS!