Endings and Beginnings

I have been thinking a lot of how Christmas must have been for them, outlawed unable to come home, no chance to celebrate with family and friends. But I have this image of those family and friends coming to them, to gather and to laugh, talk and drink and to dare to hope that things would work out. I did not want this to be another sad poem. I wanted it to be about love and togetherness. I am not sure that I accomplished that, for we know what happened and that seems to always colour everything.


Flames shift in the darkness
Bright light on bright eyes
As we talk and laugh
Remembering the past
For the future is yet to come

Tommorow will wait
For now we have life
Friends and family
We gather in the hills
Under starlight and leaves

No ride to town tonight
To dance on wooden floors
No polished glasses or mirrors
This year we lie on our elbows
The soil is our floor

But music we have
Our voices not taken
Spirits not cowed
And we sing the rebel songs
Talking of what could be

Though we are outlawed
A price on our lives
Fear in our souls
We are not forgotten
For all are here with us

To see this year end
Relinquishing of the old
And welcoming of the new
A hoping for change
And a hunger for justice