The Deal Of A Lifetime Poem by Fred Fletcher

After a period of troublesome and trying years, I have looked deep inside myself,
As I endeavoured to manufacture plans on how to manage life—more specifically,
- -How to best deal with strife, what most befuddles and muddles my otherwise
- -'Perfect' existence... what has most clearly dawned on naïve me, 'dusked' me free,
Is the realization that the best way to undo the wiles of a somewhat mean world,
Troubles untold, is by reaching out for what most floats, that which allows us to step beyond
- -The ugliness, and the pain... it's the simple moments with loved ones, treasures
Found in hitherto undiscovered corners, the measures of unaccounted-for 'formers, '
- -Mementos and baggage of yesteryear, tidbits and knick-knacks, and backpacks
- -Full of beauteous things, dreams with wings of Brobdingnagian proportions;
- -Thanksgiving and Christmas may, to some, have lost their luster, but not to those
- -Who can muster a bit of common sense, the knowledge that what therein lives
Gives reason for getting up another day, if only to play, for one more grateful hour;
There is much power in the visions that a wintry night engenders, one full of trimmings,
- -Of wreaths hanging, children dancing, sleds sliding, wind-chills biting, feisty folks
Ice skating on the pond nearby... I so long have longed for icicles turning wistful trees
Into hoary ghosts, frozen ditches into glistening moats, snow-covered abodes into
Wondrous stone-hewn castles, places where the 'child' in us can once again enliven the 'mild'
In us, what makes us better than mere animals, or inanimate things, or people who
Capitulated... I, for one, choose to call myself victorious, even if life claims
Otherwise; I will celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas not because I don't see the weight
Of anyone's misfortune, but because not doing so'll mean that I've as well conceded—
- -Instead, I will remember Christmas as long as Christmas remembers me...

(Copyright,2009. From the book 'The Most Complete Christmas Celebration Family Funbook' of Uncle Sam Publishers)