Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the land

Unease and unrest, they marched hand in hand;

The bombast was strung each day this past year,

In hopes that we'd let go beliefs we hold dear;

The factions they wrestled all smug in their heads,

While visions of sugar-plums were torn all to shreds;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Unsettled and flailing and lost in the gap,

Surrounded, assaulted by clutter and clatter

Ducking and dodging the splutter and splatter.

My gears they did grind and my teeth they did gnash,

When faced with such odious egregious panache.

High noon in my quest for Wisdom and Truth

To give lustre of mid-day upon this uncouth,

A shootout between my mushrooming fear

And hopeful dreams that now seem cavalier

With a clumsy conniver, found in each clique

I knew that my dreams were now impolitic

More rapid than eagles discoursers they came,

And I whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

Red Herring! And, Straw Man! And, Slippery Slope!

Innuendo! On, Threats! On, Imprecise Scope!

From the depths of Debasement! To the peak of Bad Proof!

Reductio ad Absurdum! Shared respect has gone "Poof!"

As civility leaves and the camps clash and cry,

When met with an obstacle, they embellish and lie,

So up to the high ground, discoursers they flew,

With a mind full of mush, and nary a clue.

And then, in an inkling, I saw through the spoof

My prancing and jawing, my standing aloof.

New views flew in my head, making me realize,

That the face of St. Nicholas was not a disguise.

The joy of his warmth, from his head to his foot,

The plight of being tarnished with ashes and soot.

Both sadness and joy I must load in my pack;

To be brooked by the pain, I will learn to bounce back.

My eyes---how they clouded with simple concern!

My past---full of poses, so hard to discern!

The roll of my tongue with words drawn from my soul,

A soul I'd believed was so pure and so whole;

Now stumped by the truth I held tight in my teeth,

I'm one amongst many, above and beneath;

I'm in a broad space and a little cramped cranny,

I look at my life like a doleful chafed nanny.

I'm not chubby and plump, nor a jolly old elf,

But I value a smile, and I can laugh at myself;

I think of how sly my life it has been,

I fight and I cede and I lose and I win;

To speak not a word, but go straight to my work,

Ignore all the mockings; ignore the smug jerk,

Delaying the voice that's inside of my head,

And striving to rise up above my own dread;

This rational peace I should call with a whistle,

And hope it won't flee like the down of a thistle.

I trust there's no shame in the crumbling of blight,

I trust that we'll overcome venom and spite,

I trust that the dark will soon lead us to light.

So I say in an effort to share and unite

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!