Christmas - 2008

The recipe for the year just spent,
Was bound together with kindly consent.
Holding measures of joy, and a measure of fear,
Spiced with laughter and a measure of tears.

There were pieces of chocolate – dark and bitter,
Mixed in with moments of sugary glitter.
Blended together, the bitter and sweet,
Make memory’s contribution complete.

Momentous moments in seconds of time,
Shared smiles and tears on an upward climb;
Each man’s outcome so clearly his own,
Yet each man’s progress is commonly known.

The future is out there
Its course has been staked.
But to us at this point,
It’s a cake not yet baked.

For the ingredient list of a human life,
Goes on and on through sorrow and strife;
Years of loss and years of gain,
Follow years of joy and years of pain.

We sum each year by a critical moment,
It’s crystallized, characterized, set up to foment;
"1998! – how well I remember,
That’s when my grandson was born in November!"

We toss in ingredients with scarcely a thought,
An unkind word, an opinion unsought;
And thus we assemble our life’s recipe,
Rarely taking account what the outcome will be.

Too soon, we give up and flee the fight,
When victory’s crown is almost in sight.
Too easy, we’re swayed by popular opinion,
And find ourselves caught in the enemy’s dominion.

But just ahead the oven’s fire
Will test the ingredients we acquire.
The proof’s in the final product, you see,
What we put in will last for eternity.

Christmas – 2008
Marjorie J. Kinnee