7)Stephen Carradini: Watching the Heavens

Everything seems out of control
From the weather to the food
Shortages and terrifying storms
Everything plowing to an inevitable end
Watching the heavens, watching the heavens

And yet a pause

Amid marital crisis and construction delays
The Christ was born
In a world staggeringly like ours
The same fears, the same hopes,
Watching the heavens, watching the heavens

are we unknowingly arrogant
To claim this the end of the world?
That we get to be present for it, Exclusive?
That we were powerful enough
To overthrow world without end?

I worry, indeed, about the world
But this is the sign that Christmas is:
Fear not! I bring you tidings of great joy.
For unto you is born he who controls the world,
That you may fear no more the world
But celebrate that your savior is at hand
And from whose hand you will receive the power
To make your tiny dent upon the world
This is Christmas: that we are free
Because God said, you are free,
And thus we try to free alike
Those injusticed, those in pain,
Those affected, even global warming
This is Christmas: the beginning of our and their
Arrived hope,
Watching the heavens, watching the heavens


Stephen Carradini is a writer and musician from Oklahoma who currently resides in North Carolina.