A multitude of ties (first star)

(draft)

it wasn't the first in a long chain
the memories strung
back through the years
Christmas cards and photographs
the old family
ornaments preserved
all this time
clusters on the mantlepiece,
drapes the banister
and festoons every surface.

Somewhere in the middle,
you and i popped in,
appearing in our appropriate order.
the spun glass trumpet from Uncle Ed
A quartet of felt elves
the year mother folded
all the cards into a wreath

The accumulation goes back
a few generations. That angel
on the top with unpeakably dirty yarn
for hair appeared in your
great grandmother's time
we never met but she too takes part
in this pageant.

The stories change over time
depends who's telling.
The shabby pine cones
from a visit to california
The wooden creche was mine
you made these snowmen in school

The brightest star appeared
for me, when i first remembered this
and took my place in the ritual
hung the ornaments just so
and learned to repeat the tales
of high and far off times.
perhaps it was the same for you.

For me the thread is broken now.
I imagine that it continues for you
And perhaps your children
have grown into that continuous
chain that connects the generations.

Sun, December 28, 2008 - 10:17 PM