A Present for the Holidays

We were humbled to receive the following poem from a long time member of our Forum Family, someone who attended our Annual Hartford Children's Holiday Party for the first time this year and was deeply moved by the experience.

This poem is his gift to us - all of us - and a wonderful reminder about the real meaning of the holiday season.  Enjoy!

For reasons best not expressed

This season had found me quite depressed

Until, that is, when I was invited

To an event for which I was not excited.

A group whose work I have adored

(I sit on their advisory board)

For 18 years has held a fete,

A holiday event for children set

In a ballroom, grand and cavernous

Where, erstwhile, men quite ravenous

Had sat dining, whining of things financial

Thinking their work was so substantial.

But now that room with lofty ceiling

Was filled a brim with holiday feeling,

The sound of unfettered joy,

The jingling of a jangling toy,

Tables set with crafts to bring forth glee

For children of all sorts to see.

Volunteers from here and there

Had taken time enough to care

To put aside their own lives’ burdens

Bringing joy unto these young ones

Whose lives, I regret to say,

Are ones that, day to day,

Cause them their laughs to suppress,

To find a way to do with less

Than others of their tender years

For many exist in homes of fear

And those who come are but a few

Of the many others deserving too.

They are a motley bunch

Who have been invited here for lunch,

Tall, short and of varied hew

Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jew

All together, laughing, sharing

No one at the other staring

All accepting of each other

Treating each like sister, brother,

Squealing at the man on stilts,

Running round the room full tilt,

Filling up the room with magic,

Unaware their lives are tragic,

Giggling at the silly clown,

As the clock goes running down.

Soon their fun would have to end

And back to their homes we’d have to send

Them having had a moment’s bliss

That otherwise they would have missed

But for the work of volunteer

Who came to share a bit of cheer.

I don’t know if they’ll remember

This day of fun in mid-December.

But I am sure to cherish dearly

That which I approached so wearily

When their laughter, like a dart,

Did vanquish the grayness in my heart.

It’s amazing how a child’s sweet face

Can one’s anchored sorrow quick displace.

And, afterwards, it struck me -

Is it not an irony,

That bringing joy unto a child

And by their smile become beguiled

Into a sense of love for others

Treating each like sisters, brothers

Whether thin, fat, short or tall

Is the meaning of this season

after all?

So to you my colleagues and my friends,

Regardless of what life intends,

I wish much joy and happiness;

Indeed, I wish you childlike bliss.

To find it you need only bend

And to a child your blessings send.

HAPPY

HOLIDAYS!

YOURS, ALWAYS, JR