A Christmas Walk

late in the afternoon

far from the gifts

under gray clouds

i pushed through

the twisted brown grasses

of the meadow staring into

the woven shadows

between dry blades

the coarse shelter

for birds

for mice

that soon

would be gone

wondering

how one man

long ago

so foreign to me

could lay

the foundation

on which

to build the world

knowing

how one man

consumed by a craving

for the power to heal

what could not be healed

would burn it all down

alone in

the frozen air

on this holy day

with the weaves and whorls

of a vast winter wilderness

hoping for a glimpse of a life

cradled in the shallow caves of straw

but there was

nothing to be seen

nothing to be revealed

uncertain about

what was coming

what to do

shivering

my face numb

my hands raw i

made my way

to the rocky swale

for the easiest path home