Carols by Candlelight

The air was slowly cooling,

Thank goodness.

People were gathering,

With full eskies, foldout chairs, 

Or blankets on the drying grass.

Small children as diminutive Santas,

Tinselled elves or barefoot Christmas Angels,

Ran about squealing with excitement.

This ritual, repeated in the daylight-saved twilight,

Of each small town across the country.

Is about to begin here, in my town.

Our choirmaster, in readiment, lifts his arms for the first up-beat. 

Then booming out across the lawn our combined acapella. 

"Joy to the World the Lord is come!"

Laurie Keeps Calling

Orana! Orana!
Orana to Christmas Day!
We are rehearsing for the Christmas concert.
Our CD newly minted is in its spangled green cover.
Baby Jesus not even opening his eyes.
We listen to the playback,
I hear Rowena's syrup thick honey voice,
My own birdlike vibrato,
John's bass vibrates my every molecule down to my toes.
And then we get to 'that' part.
I look across to our conductor.
He is thinking what I am thinking.
Our smiles meet in conspiratorial recognition.
Probably no one else notices,
The one voice that we hear above all others,
In a tree of thirty calling lorikeets.
" Laurie Keeps Calling!"

Singing the Cosmos

What is it about singing,
That makes you feel so...
Alive?
To sing alone,
That is soul enriching,
But to sing with others,
Is like a form of communion.
Yes you are together,
Voices in harmony.
More than that.
It is like when the notes combine,
In rhythms and chords,
In sympathy with our breath and beating hearts,
What is produced is a key to the very
Cosmos.
Together we are singing the universe.