Christmas by Erato

I was working at the restaurant
Roast carrot and coconut soup serving
Started snowing…
White flakes dropping
Like doves’ feathers
Everything went slowlier
Earth seemed lighter
Elevating itself
Cotton cocoon
« I’ll have a black coffee »
« Americano ? »
« Black coffee »
« Double espresso ? »
« Black Coffee »
« Yes sure »…Smile and nod
Black, white, on the side…
On my break
Went for a three scoops ice cream
The creamy unctuous smooth white one
They call it vanilla
It is not
Reminds me of summer taste in Greece
Though the waitress tells me
It comes from a dairy
In Devon
Whatever…
Smile and nod.
It all started with some snow falling…

A Christmas poem by Stephen Leake

Presence

Across the dark, a robin learns the Winter.
A candle dissolves; frank and sensuous
Against the extending light.
The streets remain illegible with snow.

I travel through you; uncurling
Where weather decorates the night
And naves of Christmas pines
Grasp human shadows.

Alone I go, echoing carols
In powdered places. Echoes that are glorified.
Prolonged.

Until I find you on the bench
Pressed with our pasts.
A child again. Tricked and traced by
Memory’s gift. Lasting. Imprinted.

A proof of the year’s new world.







This Christmas poem 'Presence' has been scored for orchestra and choir by Jon William Jones and was premiered at Gettysburg College, Dec. 2008.
It will also appear in the Times Literary Supplement this month.