A Lifetime of Christmas Poetry
My mom, Raynette Forister Eitel, passed away in September of 2022, age 85, drifting away into dementia. It was tragic to watch this woman who loved words, who was a poet and teacher, fade away into wordlessness after a lifetime of crafting poetry.
Mom had a tradition of writing a new Christmas poem each year and sending it to friends and relatives. The mailing list grew each year, and people always told us they looked forward to mom’s Christmas poems. She published some in a couple little books. There are too many to post just once a day during the month of December, but I’ll choose some of the best.
Christmas Conglomerate
by Raynette Eitel
Bells that have forever rung
Are pealing out across the night,
And all the voices ever sung
Are chanting of a holy light.
Tinseled memory defines
All the love we ever gave
Every candle prayer still shines
Their golden light inside the nave.
Shepherds with their flocks of sheep
Search ever for a baby King,
Poets with promises to keep
Are penning songs for us to sing.
Our joy takes wing as voices swell,
“It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,”
Or “Silent Night” and “First Noel”
The carols that we hold so dear.
Sweet frankincense, the myrrh and gold,
A royal three led by a star
To find the truth in stories told
Of virgin birth in lands afar.
The tangled ropes of hope and cheer
We grasp in childlike faith and prayer
Then feel the Christ child drawing near
And Christmas spirit everywhere.
Writing Rhetorically 