Flickering Forth

In keeping with the tradition that I mentioned last December, this post is the poem included on our Christmas card for 2013.  It is always a joy to write the poem.  When the words resonate in the lives and memories of those who read them, joy is enhanced as the words ripple out like the flickering light from an old film projector.  Here it is:

           Flickering Forth

Moisture laden clouds reached down to touch the pavement; the

Season’s first deep chill hovered low, invading every crevice and

Finally freezing autumn’s colorful leaves strewn about by biting breezes 

Sent to announce autumn slipping aside as winter’s grasp tightens.

Dressed in our sleepers or flannel pajamas, we huddled before the

Warming glow of our --- computer screen.  Insert the digital video disk.

The title page “Memories” flickered forth with the first frame captured

From eight millimeter movies made when film was the highest of high tech.

Before auto focus and image stabilizing software, movies depended

On a steady hand and on the artful eye of a cameraman.  Home movies

Jumped and panned, fogged and blurred as every home cameraman

Focused, zoomed, laughed and spurred on silliness in front of the lens.

Amid the jiggering images, we watched - mesmerized, transported to 

Times when hairdos were big or intentionally shaggy, when side burns 

Ran down to jawbones, when long ago dogs were puppies, when loved

Ones, now old or gone, were young, lithe and laughing among the throng.  

Interspersed between bouts of tears and giggles, we held hands; we

Warmed as the images from ages ago stirred stored memories with

Scenes from Christmases thirty, forty, even sixty years past.  Time was

Defeated, gray clouds lifted, and the light of the season flickered forth.

--td