A Christmas Like No Other

by Albert Jalalon

A Christmas Like No Other

It's Christmas time once more

Lights are black and full of color

Festive is the air

Our glee evident

Our families will gather

Friends will get together

To partake and reminisce

Elation is at hand

For a year almost gone

For a year we rather forget

For in it's wake a tumult

A year that never was

Yet

As a dark winter now engulfs

Bleak and foreboding it seems

All lives upended

All normalcy lost

A virus' havoc unleashed

Is there something to celebrate?

Can we find new meaning

In a tragic year all told

Where death is common everyday

Of all colors, stripe and hue

Race and age don't matter

It does not discriminate

I say yes to all these

And celebrate we must

But we will do so wisely

Our well beings paramount

It will be distant, others remote

The joy of being one

Our ardent desire to be together

No virus can supplant

We will rejoice we will celebrate

We will remember we will give thanks

and in this our defiance, obstinate we stand

Unbowed, unconquered victory will be ours

Some might not be present

Others forever gone

In our tables empty chairs

We will remember them all

Christmas will come

As she always has

Christmas will be here

Whether we like it or not

The greatest gift that Christmas gives

Is the birth of a savior,

He is the reason for the season

Our salvation assured

Yes it's hard, our hearts are heavy

Some friends and loved ones not around

But resilient and gleeful we are

Our hope remains

It's eternal

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