© 2007-2011 John Thornburg
You can’t get more anti-Christ than Herod.
Ask the wise men.
Warned in a dream
that their gift giving to the child
might be a capital offense,
they took the back roads home.
Thank God for dreams,
and those who listen to them.
Then Herod,
in fear-driven fury,
unleashed a genocide we seldom name.
The infants of Bethlehem
have no monument on the Mall,
and Muzak has no record of them.
Their story is depressing
and, therefore, inconvenient.
It’s an un-story.
Untidy.
Unwanted.
Unread.
I’d blame Hallmark if I could,
but I bought the lie
that Christmas is all red and green.
They only made it pretty.
I want the magic
so I can deny the reality.
I want the snow
so the ash underneath won’t show.
It will only be the
‘most wonderful time of the year’
when today’s Herods are brought to justice,
and children everywhere are safe in their beds.