December Sounds

December's filled with happy sounds,

Chiming notes of icicles in wind,

Childish voices linked in carol rounds,

Organ tones, or sleigh bells pinned

To blankets, held by children, hung from tack.

If a voice croons lullabies, while candles

Flicker light clichés; if pompous Handel's

Hymns swell churches, armories, and halls,

Fill the night while blue trees, tall as

Steeples, catch the radiant moonlight–

Though the voices stray, untuned, night

And the fair season harmonies put back.

What matters is the singing, not the song;

Voices raised in joy are never wrong.

–December, 1998