What Do You Want for Christmas?

Headphones to grant me some private space . . . tickets to some far-off exotic place . . .

What do you want for Christmas?

Clothing to dress me to paint the town red . . . silk sheets to wrap me when I go to bed . . .

What do you want for Christmas?

Harry Potter’s a good one . . . the kids will go wild . . . And I love him too, ‘cause I’m really a child . . .

What do you want for Christmas?

There’s camera equipment, that’s sure to appeal . . . there’s software galore at really good deals . . .

What do you want for Christmas?

I look in my closets, I look at my house, there’s nothing I need, . . . no, not even a mouse . . .

What do you want for Christmas?

Would it matter, I wonder, if there under the tree, was a wee tiny package all wrapped up for me, and when opened, ‘twas empty, no present I’d see . . . just a feeling of peace and . . . serenity.

What do you want for Christmas?

And maybe compassion, wrapped up with a bow, a gentle enfolding so really I’d know what could and what couldn’t, what is and what ain’t. Just some understanding. (I won’t be a saint.)

What do you want for Christmas?

It’s asking too much, now, to ask for world peace, but on my list it’s up there, that wars may soon cease. And justice, for children, that all may be fed, and wanted, and cuddled and tucked into bed.

What do you want for Christmas?

The economy needs us, or so we’ve been told . . . spending our dollars in purchases bold . . . but still, in the silence of this holy night, I know what I want most is not sold with bright lights. What I deeply need is to set aside fear, to let myself reach out in this coming year . . . to know with my heart the whole world as my kin . . . that Love may be born, and Peace may begin.

What do you want for Christmas?

© Maureen Killoran