Comments on Christmas Time Again

The poem “Christmas Time Again” is a seasonal poem with imagery that captures the meaning of Christmas and the spiritual rebirth of mankind after the fall of Adam and Eve. The blessed hope of a better world fuels the minds of the Christian world. The history of Judaism has significant links to the Christian world. The Jews trace their roots to Abraham, who established the belief that there is only one God, the Creator of the universe; and that belief I embrace as a Christian believer. Contemporary Jews or Israelites follow with fervor their ancestral roots.

 

My Christian faith is compatible with Judaism in a harmonious and peace abiding coexistence. I gained much understanding of Jewish ways of life when I stayed with Dr Gold his beautiful wife and their two children (Martha and Solomon) a Jewish family on Cold Stream Avenue in Toronto, Canada during my student days at a Canadian Business College in 1968. The lighting of the Hanukkah was truly amazing for me. I got to understand that it means “dedication” in Hebrew, and begins on the 25th of Kislev or the Hebrew calendar and falls usually in November or December. Often referred to as the Festival of Lights, the holiday is celebrated with the lighting of the menorah, traditional foods, games and gifts. This eight-day Jewish celebration dates back to the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt. Jews in Barbados are amazing for they assisted in the building of this nation in so many pleasing ways. The oldest Jewish Synagogue in the western hemisphere is right here in Barbados. It is an amazing tourist attraction right in the heart of Bridgetown.

 

“Christmas Time Again” is written in the form of the Rictameter but with an added feature known as the “swirl”. The basic pattern of the Rictameter is maintained as shown below. However, the swirl is created by merging the 9th line and 1st line by stringing them together, thus creating a swirling movement of that 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

word into the next line as mapped out in red below: 

Christmas←←←←←←←←←←←←| First line

     ↓                                                                         
Comes once a year
For Christians everywhere
Celebrate the Nativity
And Jews blend well with their Hanukka too
Lots of wishes and blessings flow
From the hearts and the soul
Should continue
     ↓ 
 All year ←←←←←←←←←←←←| Line 9 swirls in Line1
     ↓ 
We wish for you
The joys the New Year brings
And resolutions we will made
Springs of hope revitalizing the mind
The gift of love hangs on the Cross
Easter He arose gave
The Blessed gift
     ↓
Bestowed←←←←←←←←←←←←| Line 9 swirls into Line1
     ↓
By our Maker
God’s gift of atonement
Through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ
So mankind can reclaim their paradise
From the hands of that evil one
Called corrupter of souls
That Lucifer
     ↓
Is hell←←←←←←←←←←←←←| Last line