CHRISTMAS, DIG?

 © Martin Fawkes 2012

I’m told Swarovski is nice

But surely Cartier is better

Crystals grown in test-tubes

Versus diamonds grown by pressure

If Christmas is coming

What’s inside the wrapping paper

A gift to last today

Or a gift to last forever?

What is substantial

What is solid? What is vapour?

What remains like legacy

What is trashed like pretty paper

What is shadow? What is ephemeral

How can it all be real

How can we become more of who we are

Substance, not surreal

Within the packaging

The guts inside the superficial

The knowing, not just hoping

Faithful not just superstitial

We could spend our lives pursuing

Happiness, such as it is

So fleet of foot, so quick to flee

And find its own undoing

Or we can spend our substance

Simply staying alive, forget the happy

The chase too hard after elusive pleasure

Hard, so hard to measure

Particularly when it won ¢â‚¬â„¢t stand still

Happy asks a price but will not pay the bills

Are we waiting for ecstatic

Are we waiting just for bliss

Are we waiting for something more substantial

To undergird all this

While happy takes its flight

Quiet Joy waits to tap upon our shoulder

Wanting to surprise us

Strengthen, gird and dignify us

A water that is living

A drink that never goes unfilled

Glass half full?

Go ahead, drink it all

And share it, plenty to go around

I’m told Swarovski is nice

But aren’t diamonds better, boys and girls?

Why go mining for pretty plastic

When there are diamonds in those hills

Why go dive simply to stay alive

When you could go diving for pearls?