Christmas Revisited

She came to the land

Fleeing political disorder

Gangs and criminals and things

And  a desperate type of poverty

Crossing over the border

She left behind endless insecurity

Looking for a better life

Which she found in a land of over abundance

Life there was still hard and difficult

But she slept in peace at night

Did not experience violence

And she no longer worried about bad water

She worked the fields

Despite minimal pay and no social benefits

Or the long hours of aches and pains

It was worth the cost

She harmed no one

She was honest

Pleasant 

Her name was Maria

She met a boy in town

He was cute and polite and trouble free

They found love and they married 

Their happiness was transparent

She felt lucky

Lucky to be there

In this once great land

Where common people built the future

She learned she was pregnant

Working the soil

Despite the immense heat 

And endless toil 

Her life felt fulfilling

In this land that was once great

She was living a dream

—But that shattered for her in an instant

The people had lost their way

And let the land fall into the fist of tyranny and decay

This once great land of promise began to rapidly evaporate

Ruined by criminal people full of hate

Masked men with guns

Showed up one night

And took her man away

She never saw him again

She never knew what happened to him

Never hugged him one final time 

Never got to say good bye 

He died on another continent

She went on the run

Desperate and impoverished

Struggling in the desert heat

Living on the street

Pregnant though she was

Turned away from the manger

-No crib or a bed-

By people claiming to love babies

She was arrested and declared a criminal 

For homelessness 

Which doesn’t happen by choice

Though she was initially released

She gave birth later that evening

In some nameless alley

Behind the dumpster down the street

She named her child Jesus- after the only father she ever knew

But they had no where to go

One afternoon evil men grabbed her 

And threw her into a van

 She sobbed in terror and Jesus cried

They were imprisoned in a swamp

By people self identified as saviors

Who exhibited no virtue in their wicked behaviors

In deference to power, corruption and lies

There was a flood and her baby died

She miraculously survived

But shortly there after succumbed to cholera

Early on Christmas Morning

Her life went from danger to security 

Back to danger to dead in a few short years

In a land sick with over abundance for a wicked few

That began trading primarily cruelty and dread

Gone with her is her happiest memory

Of a single day in May 

And the joy of learning

She was pregnant with her baby

When she thought how fortunate 

She was to be in this once beautiful land

Away from the nightmares 

And surrounded by hope and dreams 

An unjust end to the story 

for that mother, child, father

And for countless others;

the sad end to all those dreams

Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness-

The pinnacles of that once beautiful land

That was once protected and cherished for common security

No longer protecting the rights any human being

How long will it decay into moral ineptitudes

Cynical opportunistic utilitarianism

Unwaveringly delusional narcissism

Amongst back stabbing lunatics?

All the while, those who have

Fleece those that can’t; 

While backslapping and high fiving each other

Over the pain they continue to inflict

Though it doesn’t look good for many of us

All will unfold in due course nevertheless

The power of the people is found in being virtuous 

Even while we experience that which is most horrendous

The defenseless require from each of us

To never relent to that which is the most evil among us

Or permit the immoral lordship of some over others

As no person is endowed more so than another

There are no easy answers for us

There will be tests requiring perseverance from us

There will be further trials that will test the best of used

And there will be times that scare the shit out of us

But we must keep the flames alive

That represent the best of humanity

These include empathy, compassion and charity

For without these we render ourselves unto perpetual barbarity

The true heroics are in the most basic of efforts:

Not bending the knee to a tyranny;

Supporting and giving to the most vulnerable;

Refusing deference to those hoard everything

When one abandons good will

For the lash and the rod

One imperils their own transcendence

And damns oneself to an eternal hell

When one practices kindness 

And delivers empathy

We access the perpetual flame

That holds the keys that unlock the shackles imposed by tyranny