A Christmas Promise
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house
The silence hung heavy, for I had no spouse.
I wanted to sing and rejoice like before,
But how, when there hung a black wreath on my door?
That Christmas was dark, in spite of the lights;
In my grief I shut out all the holiday sights.
A year passed and brought me a new Christmas Eve.
A year had not proven enough time to grieve.
For I set up the tree, pulled the ornaments out,
But the memories there made my wounded heart shout:
“Dear God, how it hurts! Are You touched with my pain?
Will I ever feel whole? Will I smile once again?”
My tears touched His throne, and His hands went to work;
By the next Christmas Eve I was free from my murk.
His joy overwhelms me; His presence is real!
My bed is still empty, but I do not feel
Alone, for the wounded Hands hold me. What bliss
Just to know that my Jesus could love me like this!
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and there at my door
Stood a man who my promise had come to implore.
With a ring for my hand and plea in his eye,
He asked me to wed him, then looked for reply.
“I have found all I need: in my Savior I rest—
But to be yours in life, I would be doubly blessed!”
Copyright © 2018 Abigail Gronway – All Rights Reserved
Welcome to my series, Incremental Poetry, where each week the featured poem will be one line longer than the one I share the week before. I have no idea how long I’ll keep this up, so we’ll just have to wait and see. Thank you for stopping by.
Scansion:
Couplet Chain
Written in the pattern of the famous poem with the same opening line
Open couplets carry the thought from one couplet to the next.
Closed couplets express a complete thought and could stand alone as a two-line poem. They often end with a period.
Here I used anapestic tetrameter with a rhyme scheme of aabbccdd…
Dark Side of the Moon 