promise of Christmas (Trapp)

This is the season when the child in the heart of all of us awakens, and the embers of long-forgotten dreams are blown into flame.

The tramp of the legions is stilled; the Caesars lie in dust, but the light from that humble stable shines warm and bright.

Something old, and almost lost amid the clutter of the years, is calling from the skies and across the fields of snow.

The night winds are stilled and in the darkened heavens the stars foretell the lengthening days and the birth of spring after the winter's cold.

This is the sign that the light of hope, which shines in the dimness of our broken dreams, will never fade or die.

O stretch your hands, shaking with fear, and with the simple trust of a child, grasp another's hand and walk the way together.

Though the darkness press in upon us and the promise of Christmas comes like an echo of music upon the wind, let our hearts remember that loveliness, that light.

---adapted from Jacob Trapp

(source: Seaburg's Celebrating Christmas.)