Just after midnight on Christmas day
he lifts his head from the computer
where he was creating a poem to
listen to the glorious sounds of
college students and sees blacks,
browns, yellows and whites singing
beautifully the various religious
traditions of the season. He had just
seen a broadcast of his alma mater’s
Christmas Vespers and the music
sung beautifully by the mostly white
college students was nice and ever
so properly parochial and, to his mind,
so completely out of touch with the
beautiful inclusivity of Jesus’ message,
ironically sung by the music school
of a state university. And while he
likes Merry Christmas with it’s
nostalgic touch, really, Happy Holidays
is better, if for no other reason than,
it means Happy Holy Days — for all.