It starts months before
Heats as summer’s still on
But come November
Glitters edge to the fore
Baubles and lights
Trees and garlands
Present in every store
Shop ’til you drop
Something unique
It needs to be personal
Spend a fortune a pop
For trinkets wrapped with bow
Can’t say no, so
Here we go
Again

Deck the halls
Mistletoe for kissing
No time though for that
Can’t have a thing missing
So on quest for the pine
The one most divine
To be dressed to the T
Nothing less can be fine
Oh and what about me!?
Where would I be
If I can’t find the right attire!
Later on, we’ll conspire
Now back to list
And other arangements
To be perfect is gist

As the date nears
The dream of White Christmas
Teases the ears
But as temperatures rise
Not a flake in sight
Tensions also mount
Need to make every second count
Joy to the world!
And to the grocer
Who receives customer King
Elbowing in hordes
Jostling, plundering
With shopping list in hand
On a quest to find
That one particular brand
Of tidbit or kickshaw of kind

Crackers galore
Still, we need to get more
When the eve approaches
The urgency starts itching
Let’s get into kitchen
Reside there for days
Grind, chop and stir
Into pots and up a holiday blur
Away in a manger
Jesus awakes
The stockings are filled
No crying he makes
Pudding on fire
Give all that it takes
As mass has expired
And time has run out

Family comes to call
Once in royal David’s city
Diner served by servant to all
Now time for nitty gritty
All must be of good cheer
As presents are opened
And discontent creeps near
Then gone in a day
The work of half a year
Hark the herald angels sing!
What did they bring?
Just pressure of peer

Mariah sings she wants all
There’s just one thing that will do
I say: Stuff the turkey!
Keep all the food!
Goodbye to festive expectations
Unreasonably high
Bring in the tree
But forget all the presents.
Let Santa and Rudolph pass by
Put a log on the hearth
Pour me one glass of red
It’s the company that matters
It’s the heart that is met
All I want for Christmas
– this really is true –
Is peace on this earth
And you.

©2013, Myriam Heffels

One of the greatest stories ever conceived
From human imagination
Recites the journey of a ring
And its master’s evil dominion

What I love most about that tale
Is not the great adventure
Nor the fellowship that set out
Nor their pledge so stellar
Not even the odds the good guys beat
By fighting selflessly for their world
And never ever giving up
Even if they seemed to face defeat

I think of Frodo and his precious mission
Which he accepted without a doubt
But most of all that destiny wouldn’t see fruition
If kindhearted Sam hadn’t been about

His curiosity sent him on a destined path
To offer friendship even in the direst of times
Never thinking of the aftermath
As he belonged by Frodo’s side

The tiniest trace of human goodness
Deserved his relentless defending
The one line that says it all,
– spoken just before victory,
while doom was still impending –
Sums up his amity most true
‘I can’t carry it for you Mr. Frodo
But I can carry you.’

The trees were still there
(The ominous ones)
They looked out onto the lake
Had some floating ducks, coots
and one heron in their wake
Yet things were different
Than when I sat there many months before
In the grey of dark and with heavy heart
While this day I had two stones to cast,
And knew there’d soon be more
This load is getting ever lighter
As I learn to shine even brighter

The trees were no longer sad and dark
They were fitted with these lights
Not the fairy festive things
But white lampshades equipped with strings
Dangling like pendulums in the wind
As multiple confirmation
Of the validity of my situation

The heron spread its wings,
Against the reddening evening sky
The air was clear and bright and crisp
While an aeroplane flew by
Past one lone star beside the moon
Positioned opposite the sun: my boon.
I thought of Buddha who once recounted
‘Three things cannot long be hidden:
the sun, the moon and the truth’
With tenacity, adversity will be surmounted

The birds and trees
The luminaries and bees
Trails of clouds and Buddha confirmed
What I already knew:
All I know to know still holds true
As the plane and heron flew
Someday soon I will do too

©2013, Myriam Heffels

Tick tock, words of the clock
On stretch of sand, wide as time
Endless grains to clasp in hand
Falling through, no longer mine
Lost into an abyss, days gone by
Of May or summer, with hope and sigh
Collecting shells, for hollow heart
Stuck like glue to firm belief
In transcending hurt, overcoming grief

As cruel as fate those granules are
So move ever on yet won’t get far
As the dream by night anew revolves
Endlessly lost inside the city
Lost to the sea, lost now to be
Until it lays bare the bone
While all that once was shown
Remains buried in unknown
Always behind the bend
A dream that has no end
It is all she finds as known
Together alone, and on her own

Solitary child that sits for hours, watch
Contemplative, and unwanted ever more
Relentless, without pity, waves crash
Drowning thoughts upon the shore
Waves that can be seen, are lost
As only the water can be touched
Ever waiting for the better
On her own, not alone together
Best to learn until forever forgot

What the mind of eye can draw
Pavillion of yore, water tower and beach
Captured as impressionistic painter saw
Dream your day, the shore’s out of reach
Write her down, close to the ground
Where the most obvious of answers
Keep falling in between
The words not spoken, lost to sound
And ample thoughts to dread
Have clock tick-tock-ticking
Until time for bed

From the top of his castle mountain
The lonely emperor surveyed
Why is no one approaching?
Why does no one obey?
They’re all just so terribly boring
Why does no one venture to play?

He was a wise man, had greatness
But somewhere along the way
Confronted with dimwits and wankers
And their self importance on display
He decided to retreat to his peak
Reached zero tolerance for what they say

From there he could observe each perspective,
Had knowledge of every view
But at the top it can also get lonely
And with no one to question what’s true
The emperor often felt he was righteous
And others should best meekly ensue.

His rooster cried cock-a-doodle-doo every morning
And he happily stepped to the plate
From the centre of his private universe
He would sometimes believe in the hate
With no one to nurture his chicken
He spent much energy being irate

The mirror behind his throne was gathering dust
As over his shoulder he never did see
With no one to hold it up to his face
He sat and wondered how it can be
That all are so afraid to speak up
Why is there no one to truly challenge me?

When out of the mist a child appeared
That was not afraid to climb up
Pure and frank, not a bone out of place
It asked the emperor to stop
With honest intention it pointed to believing in love
And told him to clean his own mirror up

The child saw him naked, not blinking an eye
No questions, no judgement, no fear
It didn’t even think twice
Just shouldered the burden to bear
Together they looked in the mirror
And what did the emperor see there?

His brightness relfected in the eyes of a child
The wonder, the beauty, the world to create
The child knew no games, it just wanted to play
And reach for horizons unknown, from curiosity’s state
Not perfect, but searching, admitting when wrong
Trading happy for right, feeling love not hate

With this revelation the emperor saw
That unconditional kindness exists
Even if it is rare, it’s worth believing
Why deny yourself the promise of bliss
By only residing on your own terms
And let opportunity to grow go amiss

Wise to admit his judgemental lapse
The emperor, enlightened, immediately knew
To wield a mirror for others,
Only has value if you dare look in it too
There you might find someone positive at heart
In the child that mirrors it back to you

©2013

The wait
Has no gait
It’s silent, still
And long
Or not
But tedious and unnerving
To those in haste
With no time to waste
And pressure to perform
On them it’s wasted
But some do see
How nice it is to breathe
Sit back, reflect
Take some time to dissect
What the heart has going on
And the mind has silenced
They find treasure in the wait
The distance to contemplate
Find space to create, innovate
And so move on again
To set it free

©2013, Myriam Heffels