Christmas Presence

One day after Christmas down in Texas, it was a cold and bitter day, I picked up a little boy about twelve years old in my car. Cheerful, his smile fairly warmed the car up and took the chill off the day, his whole body radiated joy.   And he said, "D'you see Sandy Claus yesterdee?"   And I says, "Yeah, he came up to our place."   He says, "Boy, we had the wonderfullest Christmas in the whole Newnited States America at our house. You know, Sandy Claus never did come out to our place before this. Nine us childern, and Papa says he reckons old Sandy Claus is skeert  to come out there and park them reindeer around cause somebody's liable to steal one and butcher it fore he can get away with it. Papa's always jokin like that, but here just before Christmas time last week, well, Papa got word that they was givin things away in town for people that wasn't gonna have no Christmas, that Sandy Claus was gonna leave somethin with the Shriners or somebody ...

  dream one | conception God spoke.   My own true love. My chosen. My handmaid  has silence in her soul, untrammeled love.   A time to be born. Sudden dive by dream into reality.   I felt soft inward flutterings,   the Life  trembling through.  Love blooms,  bright and wild.   Veiled in flesh, Jesus begs to be born,   yields Himself to lie in prison,  in thee;  Yea thou art now thy Maker's maker,  and thy Father's mother; Thou hast light in dark,  and shuttest in little room Immensity  cloistered in thy dear womb. He comes. dream two | birth She waits while over there he knocks. No room. The steaming dung of beasts, their cloudy breath. She fought the burning in her eyes.   The straw was cold, and snapped sounding each time  her body rolled.   Be strong as steel lest Joseph sense the pain you feel. Blood strewn straw...   Father be with us in t...