(*originally posted in 2019)
The bed cradles the mattress,
the mattress my pillow;
the pillow cradles my head,
and my head, my brain.
My brain cradles my dreams,
and those dreams hold the memories
of Christmases past,
not only mine, but yours as well,
not only ours,
but those of Christmas dreamers of two millennia,
back, back to that first Christmas morning--
angelic pronouncements,
songs and dances and feasting in heaven
and in the dreams of all on earth,
the dreams of trees and snow-laden hills,
of dessert streams and dazed shepherds,
of the millions, stirring in sleep,
hearts quickening, not knowing the how or why,
only that something has changed, shifted
and humanity, cradled now and forever
in the hands of God,
in the cradle that holds the child.
Text and image © 2019, 2024 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.