ONCE

by Nancy

Crimson pennants
A crowded children’s stage
In letters drawn
A proclamation
Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”

Dress rehearsal frenzy
Good cheer bows to bother
Marley can’t recall his lines
And
Christmas Past’s gone missing

Life is but a call to faith
A prayer
My prayer
Alights on you

Through the chaos
Beyond its reach
I watch you
Seeking
Me
And
Finding
Me
You smile

I remember well
That “… Carol” scene so many years now past
How
Once
You smiled

And
I …

I believed

________

for H, for all the Christmas Carols