Though it may not be clear to you, these words are about forgiveness. A subject that I believe is directly tied to Christmas. So, well...Merry Christmas. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ghost Story

I watch the western sky
The sun is sinking
The geese are flying south
It sets me thinking
I did not miss you much
I did not suffer
What did not kill me
Just made me tougher

I feel the winter come
His icy sinews
Now in the firelight
The case continues
Another night in court
The same old trial
The same old question asked
The same denial
The shadows close me round
Like jury members
I look for answers in
The fire's embers
Why was I missing then
That whole December?
I give my usual line
I don't remember

Another winter comes
His icy fingers creep
Into these bones of mine
These memories never sleep
And all these differences
A cloak I borrowed
We kept our distances
Why should it follow that
I must have loved you?

What is the force that binds the stars?
I wore this mask to hide my scars
What is the power that pulls the tide?
Never could find a place to hide
What moves the earth around the sun?
What could I do but run and run and run?
Afraid to love, afraid to fail
A mast without a sail

The moon's a fingernail
And slowly sinking
Another day begins
And now I'm thinking
That this indifference
Was my invention
When everything I did
Sought your attention
You were my compass star
You were my measure
You were a pirate's map
Of buried treasure
If this was all correct
The last thing I'd expect
It's time that I confessed
I must have loved you
I must have loved you

-sting-

================================
Benediction

I held my hands
outstretched so far
to a million faces of indifference
'twas handed hope
back to my face
with unending shares of consequence

i pray for silence
i pray for rain
i pray for miracle
to wash me clean again

what i have loved
i held so tight
i watched it suffocate griped in my fingers
what I now have
will lead me on
a small flicker and regret of youth that lingers

i pray for silence
i pray for rain
i pray for miracle
to wash me clean again

i am no longer
the girl in all my photos
who looks for herself
in other people's eyes
enough time has gone
to see my own reflection
and chose a path of truth instead of lies

the waves have risen
the moon has spoken
my struggling words
are more than token

penny rené

(This memo is dedicated to GE Blaney, my grandfather, who taught, by example,that we should never give up on love.)