Sleigh Bells

The dusk is deeper, the stars shine bright,
It's one day nearer Christmas night.

I’ve grown weaker, smaller inside
I stand on the brink of changing my life.

How do you jump, make the first leap,
Take the first step toward falling asleep?

I guess I’ll find out, I’ve nothing else left,
No one to miss me, to stay here bereft.

I look over the railing at the darkness below,
My eyes fill with tears but I’ve nowhere to go.

Then

A sound

Falling soft over snow,
Reaches my ears, and my heart starts to glow.

Musical, ringing, joyous and clear
The most beautiful sleigh bells peal through the years.

I’m a child again full of wonder and light,
With a heart warmed with love on a cold Christmas night.

With parents, and cousins, and lights all aglow,
Bright tinsel, and stockings, and green mistletoe.

Then the sweet words of those tidings so dear,
Return to my mind to make the truth clear.

The greatest of all, so holy and pure,
Came to this earth, great pains to endure.

He suffered all things that I might be saved,
Who would I be to destroy what he gave?

I looked up as the sleigh pulled into sight,
The breath of the horses making clouds in the night.

The paint was bright red with a glorious sheen,
The sides all bedecked with streamers of green.

It slowed to a stop as it drew to my side,
And the smiling driver asked if I’d ride.

My heart filled with hope when I stepped in the cart,
And I faced unafraid the course we might chart.

Now in the darkness, when I’m lost and alone,
I remember those sleigh bells and the sound takes me home.