Christmas Poem 2012

The last time I was home for Christmas service after

grilled cheese with my sisters which we always had 

(though Mom and Dad had oyster soup which was 

traditional), I mean the early service where Martha 

sang "O Holy Night" accompanied on Daisy's piano 

which I used to dust each week and where we all lit 

candles and sang at the end wondering if the lights 

were really going to go out like they were supposed to 

not like that one year when the front spot never did, 

when I hugged my old Sunday School teachers and 

lingered with classmates, I knew it would be my last. 

Now after my husband makes soup for me and the 

boys eat pizza I go next door to the church, not the 

last one that had only one service nor the one before 

where once we had five services in one day, but this one, 

where someone does "O Holy Night" accompanied 

on a piano whose beloved owner I did not know, 

where I still worry about whether the lights will go out 

at the end like they are supposed to so we can light 

candles when we sing the new version of Silent Night, 

which, like Daisy's piano and all the teachers and 

classmates who are gone now, I will miss the rest of my life.

– Michelle M. Hargrave, 2012