T'is our season...

[If ever the art of listening was more important.]

Candles lit, lights on, children’s eyes sparkle,

The season is in full swing, as so many celebrate,

Some early, around the Bodhi tree, or at Solstice,

Muslims later, in the Lunar calendar, next year,

While Hanukkah is about to wrap up; l’chaim,

And Kwanza starts December 26th, in Africa,

Regardless of place, people, ideas or desires,

Something stirs as we contemplate life anew,

As if this season, the year coming, something,

Will capture the love and connection felt today,

This blind, heart-pounding place of acceptance,

Where each of us counts, matters and cares,

Some with charity, others with cards and wishes,

It’s an avalanche of human feeling and striving,

Caught, fleetingly, at this time each year, now,

Let it swell our hearts and minds, let’s breathe,

From our indigenous beginnings, all of us, then,

To our wildly disparate places on earth, today,

Today, a planet awaits our awakening, our love,

For each other, earth and all it can become,

That each celebration is a celebration of all others,

That each of us make space for each other,

That children enter life with a fair chance to love.

Dale R. Partridge

December 14, 2023