Sleigh Ride

(Picks up where Wreathed in Light left off)

Fairies fluttered and flickered as they flew
loop-the-loops, barrel rolls and belly
flops into the magic falling like dew
onto the Advent wreath where they rallied.
This time the fairies would not be denied.
Spurred by Christmas carols Inari hummed
while she wrote out Christmas cards, snow outside
falling, Ran spreading frosting with his thumb,
and a hundred other Christmasy things.
The fairies wove their spell late into night.
They finished by dawn’s breaking and the ring
of first morning bell that spread their spell’s light
throughout the suite, wrapping father and son
in transformative power of winter’s fun.

~ ~ ~

White rose up blotting out sleep and they slid
as stone became ice; Sarn held to his son;
snow fell, swirling in flakes that piled and hid.
A man made of ice balls skated past, one
stick arm raised in salute, his scarf trailing
after, two lumir stones for eyes that glowed,
a mouth made made of river rocks smiling,
mounded ice and snow stood in for a nose–
what strange creature had just lifted his hat?
“Icy’s the name and snow’s my game, come skate.”
Icy bowed, waved his branch hands and ice skates
formed on Sarn and his son’s feet where they sat.
A waltz played by an orchestra of ice
directed the skaters dancing on ice.

~ ~ ~

So they skated as the snow fell, Icy
too though he ice danced, and Sarn thought perhaps
he’d finally found Christmas’ icy
heart but just as he thought that, music lapsed,
skaters froze, all halted, even the snow.
Icy shook his head like a big bell jar.
“Christmas isn’t about skating or snow.
It’s about a silent night, a bright star,
our savior’s birth and peace with him bringing,”
Icy said, waving his hands ’till a sleigh
formed from the snow and reindeer for pulling.
“Come let’s go, I’ll show you with this sleigh.”
The reindeer trotted o’re the snow en route
to the first Noel, the holiday’s root.

~ ~ ~

Dashing through the snow in an open sleigh,
bells jingling and jangling on the reindeer’s
harnesses, they sailed over snow on the way.
Trailed by three fairies distraught that their dear
plan had once again gone awry and why?
Because they had missed the mark, Christmas’
heart, in a wintry wonderland, didn’t lie.
Where does your spirit reside, O Christmas?
To this they must have an answer so chase
the sleigh they did until angels’ descent
brought them up short and they made their case.
The angels pointed to a star’s ascent.
It rose in glorious light, its power
greater than the old Christmas tree’s power.

~ ~ ~

The story continues in Winter Wights and the Battle of the Bells.

Follow Sarn’s Christmas Journey

(Worried about missing a piece of the holiday mayhem?  Worry not fair reader. The fairies are arranging a special eBook to help.)

This is childhood revisited.