From “Holly Fairies” by Aileen Fisher in Christmas Bells are Ringing: A Treasury of Christmas Poetry, by Sara and John E. Brewton:
Oh, fairies love a holly tree
The foliage makes a roof
of sturdy shingles,
always green
and new and weatherproof.
And even under winter skies
the berries burn so bright
they look like
little fairy lamps,
with bulbs of crimson light.
Oh, fairies love a holly spray
too much by far to leave,
and so they up and follow it
indoors, on Christmas Eve.
And that is why each house
is blessed
where holly sprigs are seen,
because the fairies
still are there
beneath the red and green.
From “Hallelujah of Whales” in Following Their Star: Poems of Christmas and Nature by Maxwell Cordon Wheat, Jr.:
Christmas Eve aboard the vessel
rolling in troughs
over the ocean canyon
scientists and crew wait in the radio room
the little tree flashing
red and green bulbs….
The sound engineer
is turning dials, flicking switches
They have seen the Humpbacks that day
spy-hopping, breaching
curving under with flourishes of huge flukes
There must have been a hundred
These whales sing mostly in the dark
The ship’s people have come in from the deck
where they have been watching
the bright planet in the East
They hear a bellowing solo
an answer from miles away
duets, trios
Humpbacks compose their songs
sounds that swell and boom
reverberating from canyon walls
Listen!
The rejoicing of whales
