In my journal I wrote a little while waiting in the hospital lobby during my grandmother's appointment.
I observed others. Some elderly women looked tired, and a bit irritated with their paperwork tasks. They seem full of pain and impatience.
There was this one woman I noticed - she was raised up in an electric wheelchair, smiling out of squinted eyes with wrinkles like memory foam from decades of laughter.
She reminded me of the transition from summer to autumn.
Those first couple days of crisp weather and that restorative feeling you get and thought you forgot during the peak intensity of the heat.
Her face was full of youth and acceptance.
She knows everything will be alright.
And I find inspiration in her countenance and stop biting my fingernails.

father-watching
faraway
triggered sweet by
memory plucked
from twinge of
heart at
husband whiskers
sprinkled in
the sink

​
father
slow transforming
out of sight
whisker white
a-creep through
long-time
beard of boyish
blondish-brown
​

sprouting
scraggled out from
ear and nose
and knuckle
round
​

eyes a-cave
and sunken deep
in shaded-over
cavities
​

for inward looking
more than
out


with no more
footballs
flung
about
​

and no more
children yanking
on the waking hours'
daggy trousers


for weeping
over old-time
music secret
in the dark


up with the
birds
down with
the sun


midlife
rush at last
a-hush and
calm in its
surrender
done


bones exposed
of parenthood
held frail a-clung
by gristle grey of
simple habits


coffee thick
and silky
run with
milk


and crispest
crusty bread
torn up
for dipping into
hearty stock


with olives
cheese and
ham on top


a drop
of something
oaky sipped
and languished


a-crawl with
thoughts of
father own
disintegrating


boyhood memories
coddled close
and satiating


with daughter
unbeknownst
father-watching
faraway


© 2017 Adelaide Heathfield

Watch for the star shining in the east
Watch for the prowling of the beast
Watch for the light that neither falters nor dims
Listen for the sound of the angelic hymns

Watch for the coming of the one true king
Watch for the baby in the manger
May we bless him by the gifts we bring
May we see him in the face of the stranger

Watch for the day that is drawing near
Watch and be wary so you can hear
Him when he comes in all his glory
To write the final chapter in creation’s story

Watch and wait with bright joyful eyes
Watch Christ and ever stay fixed on the prize
Watch and see the greatest gift the world got
Do we remember or acknowledge? I think we have not

I wish I could see what Jesus sees when he looks at you and me
I wish I understood the price he paid to set us all free
I wish I could turn our thinking upside down
And I wish I could make people smile more than frown

I wish a lot of things but what can I do to make an impact
To change or save a life and not be an act
The little things we do can turn the world
There is poetry in all nature and a flower unfurled

So let us watch for the coming of our precious savior’s birth
Reminding the world just how much we’re worth
That Christmas is so much more than just stuff
We have family friends and faith and that is quite enough