Christmas Eve 2017

By Thomas Kircher

They say

Dickens

Prowled the London streets

At night while stalking Scrooge

And Christmas ghosts.

Like any good bounty hunter he knew

They could be tracked,

Captured at gunpoint,

Put on display,

Bent against

That long moral arc

That lived within

His beating heart.

If karma is a bitch

She’s howling at the moon tonight,

In this modern age,

With its silos of steel and glass,

Where bitcoins are stored

Against the beast

Now stirring at the gate.

Old Marley

Still rattles his chains,

Only now, like

The hooded man who stands

At the gallows,

Offering out advice,

Tells Scrooge

Not to take the bait

This time around.

Times have changed.

Tiny Tim is just

Collateral damage

In the cross-fire of the culture wars.

Now the ghosts of Christmas wait

For a drink with Scrooge

Down at the bar.  After all,

There are still

Deals to be done

Before the final call.

Thomas Kircher

Biddeford, Maine