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“I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
...“And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet and educator . His works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. He was was one of the Fireside Poets from New England and the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Wikipedia

The bells of the chapel,
swayed in the breeze,
pealing out the message,
It's now Christmas Eve.

Long were the months,
which came in between,
as we approached
a Christmas scene.

Once more, with gusto,
I will move toward
a new beginning,
not drawing my sword.

The wayward tale of a love gone astray,
in this large World in which we live.
There will always be temptations, which
arise, which challenge us to use good
judgement, involving issues of trust and
moral fortitude.
We are all human. We know our weaknesses.
We have our strengths. We are the same
and yet we are different in how we deal with
the issues we face during this life.
The decisions made set us up to be good
or someone who needs guidance.

Where goes' thou,
in this time of life?
What happens,
when you lose your wife?

Interesting questions
about a change to come.
What will happen,
if I succumb?

Time passes quickly,
in these days of yore,,
when you saw tomorrow,
on the day before.

Time flees
and before you know,
life will end.
The end of life's show.

The darkness pursued
the light of day,
covering the beauty
with light of grey.

Sun rays began
to create the dawn,
as daylight returns,
and we yawn.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Colours of a serene evening sky are captured in this 8 minute exposure, made near this December's solstice from New Zealand, southern hemisphere, planet Earth. Looking south, star trails form the short concentric arcs around the rotating planet's south celestial pole positioned just off the top of the frame. At top and left of center are trails of the Southern Cross stars and a dark smudge from the Milky Way's Coalsack Nebula. Alpha and Beta Centauri make the brighter yellow and blue tinted trails, reflected below in the waters of Hoopers Inlet in the Pacific coast of the South Island's Otago Peninsula. On that short December summer night, aurora australis also gave luminous, green and reddish hues to the sky above the hills. An upper atmospheric glow distinct from the aurora excited by collisions with energetic particles, pale greenish bands of airglow caused by a cascade of chemical reactions excited by sunlight can be traced in diagonal bands near the top left.

Photo by Ian Griffin

New tattoos today.
Have I lost my sanity
or entered a new
stage of vanity?

A dragon,
a feathered plume,
a sword, a moon,
because there was room.

I love these,
my new badge,
struggling to
maintain my courage.

One man.
One cause.
Enjoy the season.
Santa Claus.