Analysis of The Christmas Season



Let us go together, you and I, and
listen to a tale of one season.
We’ll snatch a snippet of time with no before or after.
Then we’ll find a Christmas story needing no rhyme or reason.

His jacket pulled tightly around he feels a rush of cold air - grateful for his jacket’s warmth and his long bushy hair.

He walks swiftly over crumpled brown leaves - for a moment he notices how they crunch under his feet.  

He enjoys the smell.  It reminds him of the season. A sense of late autumn aroused by leafy aroma.

In his mind he assumes the leaves are dead, not knowing they are vibrantly alive.  Their time is always now.

Their now is nurturing the soil
Offering their seasonal oblation

To all of this …
                He is oblivious.

He has worries and plans. There’s too much to do.  Not enough time.

His time swirls - future, past, present - anticipating, remembering, worrying.  

His world churns, twirls and turns. There is no still point.

He hears a carol and pauses. It sounds glorious yet so far away.  Ungraspable.  

The season and the carols - inscrutable.  They carry that peace beyond understanding.  

Listen, listen the carols herald -
Feel the still point of the turning world.  


Scheme XAXA X X X X BA XX X C X B C XX
Poetic Form
Metre 1110101010 101011110 11010111101110 111010101011110 1101100111011111011101011101 1110101011101011001111011 101011011101001111001110010 01110101111101110111111 11110001 10011001 1111 110100 111001111111011 1111011001000100100 11110111111 1101001011100111011 010001001001101101010 101001010 101110101
Closest metre Iambic octameter
Characters 1,221
Words 238
Sentences 24
Stanzas 13
Stanza Lengths 4, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2
Lines Amount 19
Letters per line (avg) 48
Words per line (avg) 11
Letters per stanza (avg) 70
Words per stanza (avg) 17

About this poem

In this poem, the Christmas season is for everyone of all beliefs and otherwise. It is about the season when days are at their shortest and there's a chill in the air. Nature exudes a stillness at this time of year that seems to reach out to us to slow down and feel.

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Written on July 10, 1948

Submitted by Martysull on December 11, 2022

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:11 min read
39

Martin Sullivan

Martin Sullivan is an author, poet and psychotherapist. His art is influenced by his experience in business, psychology and Zen practice. more…

All Martin Sullivan poems | Martin Sullivan Books

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