Third Saturday of Advent

Read Psalm 149

        from vinyl to igod

when we look
under the tree
    and think
                maybe we have
            done too much,
        rather than not enough,
    a new carol will resound
            in our living rooms;

when politicians
    pass on massive spending
    for the haves-more,
            to fund shelters and
            soup kitchens for
                            the poor,
    the carolers will dance down
        the legislative hallways;

when school boards
refuse to cut music, books,
                    and art out of
            their budgets, believing
    that without those, the kids'
    spirits will falter,
        the band at the football game
         will play a chorus of hallelujahs;

when our scratchy, dusty, old
                ways
get stuck in the groove
    of doing things the same
    overandoverandoverandover,
            you come along
        whistling a new song
   composing it on our
                hearts.

© 2010  Thom M. Shuman