Tonight we'll go to Midnight Mass together
Ed and I
And feel the strangeness of being alone
With each other where other years
We filled a row with little people.
Tonight, Jim, 12, will be there
On the altar bearing a torch and robed in white and red
With cheeks well-scrubbed to match
And Ed's eyes will shine with pride at his son
The modern Shepherd welcoming the Christ Child at Midnight.
The girls have grown
And other voices catch their ears.
Mary shares her heart in another part of town
At Mass with Michael
And her star shines more brightly than before.
Mary Kate, the minstrel, offers music as her gift
At another Mass to welcome Christ today.
Scattered, yes, but together still
We lift our hearts
And our hearts soar
For this is Christmas Eve, and together,
Tho apart,
We have come to adore.
(K.H. Fleming is my grandmother (b. 1925);
Ed Fleming is my grandfather;
Jim Fleming my uncle;
Mary Kate my mother;
Mary my aunt.)
Jim Krull
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