midnight clear (15/12/24)

Christmas is watching
the world turn
in on itself,
the world burn
betraying its dead,

Christmas is crying
snowbound tears
landing in drifts
counting our fears
in overnight shifts,

Christmas is straining
under the weight
of too many hopes
and too many fates
a burden of ghosts,

Christmas is sliding
into the mire
a consumer junkie
craving desires
more than we need,

Christmas is longing
to find a way home
through all of the noise
the stick and stones
the greed that cloys,

Christmas is stumbling
over its words
that nobody hears
(haven’t you heard)
it came once upon
a midnight clear.

© 2024 robert greig