A moment of Christmas longing

A moment of Christmas longing                   Fay White

Christmas is loud percussion

in the symphony of my year,

discordant crass cash registers

beep beeping in my ears,

the tinny ding of tinsel decor

everywhere you go,

and clashing symbols, elf and angel,

songs that mention snow.

And everybody over-busy,

everybody tired,

and most of us  ambivalent

and many of us wired.

And I can hear the doof doof thump

of families in distress 

as Christmas seems to up the ante,

amplifies the mess.

I wish it was

a simple tune,

played on a flute,

or fiddle,

that could slip 

past my defences

and touch me

in my middle,

like the sweetness 

of a baby 

born 

all fresh 

and soft 

and whole,

to light a lamp of wonder

in the midnight of my soul