TWO DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS

The day before the world begins to lighten,
The darkness dying, and the hope of spring
A silence blossoming quietly into speech,
Two and sixty years ago you were born
(Unknown all the lives you would brighten)
Soon to become a symbol of that season,
Words bursting from you as the bloom of reason;
But vested in you also was the soul of truth
That nothing dark or difficult could touch,
A light alive in you by which you looked
With kindness into lost and darkened hearts,
Who in your loving smile found a light their own.
And though I know you think me your only failure,
You were born two days before, and as my saviour.