Merry Christmas
In Times Like These
Even lighting a candle seems
an act of radical faith,
the blackened wick reaching
like a root for the flame
that will both nourish
and diminish it. Yet we keep
the old rituals alive, let
this flickering speak, knowing
nothing can quiet the voices
of those we’ve lost, those
taken by violence and hate.
A single gesture of love is
such a delicate, durable thing—
snowflake dissolving as soon
as it meets the skin,
though the body will always
remember its shape.
—James Crews