Christmas Morning

By Susan Mardele

I step outside on Christmas morning
just to listen to the quiet.

Day-to-day busy-ness
quelled for this tiny moment.

The pushy noise of freeway traffic
quieted to a mere whisper.

The self-importance of cars speeding by,
all but gone.

The very air feels hushed,
pregnant with peace.

I feel this in March.

Fears of illness have given the gift of quiet
to a society obsessed with going.

No hustle to get kids to school,
no cars speeding off to work.

The panic buying over for now,
families hunkered down for the duration.

What will happen behind those
pretty facades and closed doors?

My hope is that we will
rediscover each other.

That the screens will quiet
their incessant blue glow.

The yackety-yack of the canned voices
will cease.

That we will really look at each other
and appreciate what we have.

What we can lose in a heartbeat.

I hope we will step outside and hear the birds
singing spring into bloom,

Rain pattering on new grass,
the whisper of new leaves emerging.

I hope we will let go of fear and worry for just a moment,

And feel the quiet, the peace, the joy, the gift…
of these extra Christmas mornings.