Inspiring the Weekend: Christmas Poetry

I often turn to poetry at Christmas time.  Reading christmassy poems from the comfort of a favourite chair in a cosy room is one of my Christmas delights.  One of my favourite poets and a poet I have often talked about on these pages is Wendy Cope.  I love her for her many reasons.  She has a down  to earth approach, and is often funny, but she is insightful and touching too. I have never read a poem by Wendy Cope and not been either moved or made to smile.

With suddenly more time on my hands than I had expected in this run up to Christmas, I have found myself turning to her collection of Christmas poems more than would usually be possible.  I love this collection, and it includes some of my favourites of her poems.  She covers all aspects of Christmas. In Christmas Cards acknowledges the sadness each year of the changes to her Christmas card list brought about by death.

I open my christmas list, find their names , and type d.2016, I could remove them

but that would leave no trace of them, and I am not quite ready for them to disappear.

Another favourite is Cathedral Carol Service where she captures the poignancy of a carol service, the coldness of the cathedral, the restricted view for those who are late and unimportant, and yet the joy in singing and celebrating the birth of a baby whose parents were also both late and unimportant.

The poem I wanted to particularly share though is called Motorway Music.  This strikes a particular cord with me.  In the 23 Christmases I have been living in London, unless I have been working, almost every Christmas Eve has involved a motorway journey to our family in Norfolk.  Often after I have finished work, bundled into the car in a hurry , going over in my mind what we may ave forgot.  And suddenly, and without warning, a calm settles and its Christmas  This poem really captures that for me

Motorway Music

At last, in spite of everything

The moment does arrive.

This year it was on Christmas Eve,

Teatime, M25

When I switched on the radio

And heard ‘Nowell, Nowell’,

And had to join in singing for

The King of Israel

Along with half the choirs on earth

And all the choirs of Heaven

As I drove through the pouring rain,

Approaching junction 7.

And then my passenger woke up

And came in with his bass.

I wanted to see happiness

Like ours on every face.

In every car the traffic slowed.

The queue went on and on.

The sound of trumpets introduced

Another Christmas song.

Who cares about a traffic jam

While herald angels sing?

Each year the moment does arrive,

In spite of everything.

Have a lovely weekend X

 

Listed below are some of my previous christmas poetry posts.

Christmas Poem

The Christmas Life by Wendy Cope

Christmas at Four Winds Farm

A Visit From St Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore