Reflections of a Survivor

May you feel such love as lights the morning
Even at this darkest time of year,
Rippling through your heart with little warning,
Returning you to wonder and to fear.
You cannot will yourself to feel such love;
Christmas is a gift of unsought grace.
However much you may your spirit move,
Redemption chooses whom it will embrace.
In you may there be radiance and beauty
Such that you might never hope to see,
Taking as its home some common duty
Made lovely by a will sustained and free.
As you become a vessel for this light,
So may you know its pain and its delight.
© Nicholas Gordon

I wish all of you a merry Christmas
And a happy and prosperous 2008.
Alexis