A Christmas Day Poem 2020

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a bruised reed  
honking like a goose 
at the thin beginning of a saxophone; 
the wick of a star still smouldering 
above a town famous 
for its paranormal astronomy; 
a midwife cow; 
a shrine of straw, 
and all of us linked in together 
locked down in houses far apart 
asking ourselves 
“what child is this 
inside my chest 
who still fears the night 
and loneliness?” 

it’s forever happening— 
our growing up  
our growing into  
a higher order understanding 
of the fragile smouldering in the sky  
that guides us to the light we share. 

We’re here apart. 
It’s Christmas 2020. 
It’s hard but not unhappy. 
Things never turn out, 
thank God, 
the way our pouting little imaginations 
insist they should.

Greg Kennedy, SJ works as a spiritual director at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre in Guelph, Ontario. He is author of Reupholstered Psalms volumes I, II, and III; and Amazing Friendships between Animals and Saints (Novalis Press).

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4 Comments
  • Friederika Priemer
    Posted at 05:02h, 26 December Reply

    A Merry and Blessed Christmas to you from Cologne/Germany. And a Happy AND Healthy (!) New Year!
    Kind regards,
    Friederika Priemer, Nonni’s fan, i.e. fan of the famous but forgotten Icelandic author and Jesuit Fr. Jón Svensson SJ, born in 1857 in Iceland, died 1944 in Cologne. On his world trip at the age of 80 (!) he visited Fordham University in New York from where he travelled via St. Paul, Winnipeg, and Denver to San Francisco where he spent Christmas in the year 1936. In spring 1937 he travelled on to Japan where he stayed and worked a full year before returning back to London via China, Shanghai, Hongkong, Colombo, Port Said and the Mediterranean Sea thus completing his world trip! Unfortunately he is hardly known in the US…

  • Donna Zeolla
    Posted at 07:07h, 26 December Reply

    Yes!

  • Peter Bisson
    Posted at 09:07h, 26 December Reply

    Thank you very much Greg!

  • Jim Radde
    Posted at 13:46h, 26 December Reply

    Merry Christmas Greg.

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