Merry Christmas, verse # 5

Merry Christmas…

The lights circling the tree remind me of a time
when we waited for the midnight, trying not to close our eyes,
praying sleep would wait until we could see the man
dressed in red with a big bag of toys in his hands;
The lights twinkling on the tree remind me of a time
when we’d peak inside the fireplace and have to wonder why,
a magical man traveling the world, carrying all of those toys
wouldn’t simply stop to think to use the window or the door;
But, Christmas changes as we pass through the years of time,
a deeper meaning emerges, more than gifts beneath the lights,
no longer do we listen for the distant sound of hooves
that are made by the reindeer as they land upon the roofs;
No longer do we wonder about the yearly trip through time
or how a man could travel the entire globe in a single night,
and Santa becomes a fantasy we pass on to our kids,
as they try to stay awake to see the man who brings the gifts;
Yet, as I stare at the lights that remind me of a time
from outside, in the distance, I think I hear a chime,
could it be a sleigh bell, the clock nears the stroke of twelve,
oh, silly me, silly me, there’s no such thing as elves;
Yet, as the lights twinkle and remind me of a time,
there it is again, in the distance, another chime,
and then, there it is, an odd-sounding scuffling on the roof,
it must be a really big bird, because it simply could not be hooves;
My heart begins to quicken and I look again to see the time,
“Could there really be a Santa,” I find myself thinking in my mind,
I check to see no one’s watching as I peak up the fireplace,
to see if there really is a man in red with reindeer and a sleigh;
But, my eyes must be effected by my age or by the time,
so I dash off to the kitchen to find some kind of light,
and upon my return there are gifts beneath the tree,
but no sign of any man, not even footprints did he leave;
In the morning, when the dawn awakes at the appointed time,
I find that I have slept beneath the tree with pretty lights,
and I have but to wonder if it was all nothing but a dream,
yet there is the flashlight still sitting by the tree;
Perhaps the wishes of childhood that we think are lost to time
are simply buried deep within the recesses of our minds,
and perhaps one night you and I shall fight to stay awake
to see if there really is a Santa with elves who drives a sleigh.