Postcard #1

Just popping in to send you a little postcard, to say I wish you’d been able to go see a play with our family.  We went to see A Christmas Carol performed by the High Point Theater Shakespeare Festival.  It was marvelous!  You simply must go…it will make your holiday!  I can’t stay long…but here’s a sketch I made of Mr. Scrooge from the front of the play program.  And a poem.  Hope you enjoy!

 

A Dickens Eve

A gentle waterfall
spilled up and o’er the rim
finding age old crevices
to follow towards my chin.

‘Twere just a play!
a staged apparition…
Well, actually there were three
nay four! after intermission.

What magic did befall me
as costumed sorcerers did brew
with lilting incantations
and  music lovely too.

Had I not sat here
a couple times before?
Yet a fortnight of years
since last I heard this score.

A fortnight of years
is enough to deepen
the heart crevices
touched here by Dickens.

As Past waves her hand
for Scrooge to view his childhood,
My own leaps up before me
memories dancing, ill and good.

Then Present laughs hearty
as I sit here with my Three-
I know the richness I’ve been given
I can scarce contain it merrily.

For that dearest family Cratchit
‘tis my own sweet family too!
The crevices are deeper now
‘tis why I see this anew.

My senior girl beside me
is poised to leave the nest
Four years at college
and then who knows the rest?

My middle boy full of life
and a heart that breaks for all
His character becomes a man
How did he get so tall?

My youngest also sweetest thing
a deadly disease has hold…
Were it not for money and medicine,
her future could not be told.

All three have known less at table
though nothing like the meager here.
Fewer clothes are in their closets
Yet the Cratchits are wearing theirs.

Though my life is abundance
in comparison with these…
Do I still hoard and miser
all I have, to live in ease?

The jocund, piercing work of actors
has undone my heart this night.
The waterfall I cannot stop
melts what I’ve held tight.

Live freely with hands held open
Give money, joy and love!
And ring throughout each blessed moment:
God Bless Us Everyone!!

-jpe

0 thoughts on “Postcard #1

  1. Christy says:

    Oh my! This poem is wonderful! I love to read your work and want to share it with everyone that I can! Thanks for living your life out so freely for us all!

  2. freebirdsings - Timaree says:

    Great sketch and your poem really incapsulates the play into your daily life. To me, that is what a “classic” does. You are younger than I am and it has been many years since I’ve seen this as a movie or read it as a book. I wonder – do I dare do so after reading your poem? The waterfall is bound to find it’s way to my face too I fear.

  3. kpolon says:

    What a beautiful sketch and such wonderful sentiments in your poem! My dear friend is playing Fred’s wife and I am so sad that I can’t make it to see her this year. We had a family outing to see her in A Christmas Carol last year, and it was fantastic! ~Kelli (Wilkerson)

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