A Christmas Poem...

...about an angel, and a bar, and a child, and some hope. I know it's insanely long. But if you have 10 free minutes, please read it. Merry Christmas.

In an old city bar
That is never too far
From the places that gather
The dreams that have been

In the safety of night
With it's old neon light
It beckons to strangers
And they always come in

And the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
The music was low
On that night
Christmas Eve

And here was the danger
That even with strangers
Inside of this night
It's easier to believe

For it was into this bar
That i happened to wander
To stare into a glass
And my universe to ponder

So I walked up to the counter
Shook the snow off my coat
Then I ordered a whiskey
That i used like a moat

But an old man soon joined me
And asked if I knew the time
One word led to another
On this night I didn't mind

Then he offered a drink
From a bottle 'neath his coat
And he smiled a little smile
As it trickled down his throat

And I felt myself relaxin'
Here among the ghosts that failed
Then the old man topped my glass off
And began his little tale

In the moments of our lives
Both the joyous and the tragic
If the truth is too be told
We are all pursuing magic

And the magic that we seek
As we're sure you have discovered
Can be found in certain places
Far more easily than others

In the sand beneath the sphinx
In the dreams of candlelight
But the surest place of all
Is in the forgiving world of night

And of all the nights throughout the year
That come & gently leave
None hold the dream of magic
Like that night, Christmas Eve

And so it's on this night
With it's promise deep within
As the snow begins to fall
That our story does begin

An angel came down
One night to the earth
A mission from God
To find out the worth

Of everything that
His children had done
Since that winter night
The birth of His son

And then a sound filled the night
In the cold winter air
And in the midst of his flight
It was holding him there

And as he looked toward the earth
For the source of this sound
On that cold winter night
It was pulling him down

To bring something back
This angel was told
That no one could touch
But angels could hold

So on that night
When the sky had cleared
Among all the stars
An angel appeared

And then a sound filled the night
In the cold winter air
And in the midst of his flight
It was holding him there

And as he looked towards the earth
For the source of this sound
On that cold winter night
It was pulling him down

The sound that he heard
Was the ringing of bells
But now inside that night
There were voices as well

As he flew over the Urals
He came upon a little town
Shining in the Arctic darkness
So the angel he set down

Then he walked among the people
In a fitting earth disguise
So no one recognized him
Though they wondered at his eyes

Then he asked a village peasant
What do Russian hearts desire?
He answered peace on earth, of course
And a little "stolichnaya"

As he flew o'ver Sarajevo
There were scars upon the land
There were scars upon the people
It was hard to understand

And the deepest scars of all
Which to humans are unseen
But the angel could see clearly
Were the scars upon the dreams

Like Belfast and Burundi
Rwanda, Palestine
The only decorations here
Had been reward for their crime

And in the garden where the children played
Now soldiers only trod
And stranger still, he heard some say
That they were killing for their God

Now the angel heard God speak many times
And he had always paid attention
But this killing of ones neighbor
Was something the Lord had never mentioned

But as he neared the earth
Of a recent battleground
From among the ruins
He once more heard the sound

It was a single cello playing
A forgotten Christmas song
And even on the battlefields
The song somehow belonged

And as he flew away
The angel did take note
That where he found this music played
One always could find hope

As he flew over the countryside
He was still listening
When from a little church below
He heard a voice begin to sing

Then he reached for the song
And he held it in his hand
(It was something that he did
Because angels can)

And he wondered to himself
"Is this the answer that I sought"
But something was still missing
Or at least so he still thought

And so he journeyed on
Through the midnight winter air
When all at once our angel
Felt the touch of a man's prayer

And looking once more toward the earth
To determine whence it came
He felt a million souls below
But one was not the same

For here he saw a man alone
Though he was walking in a crowd
And though this man had rarely prayed
Tonight his head was bowed

For even in a crowd, you see
A heart can feel alone
When the night is Christmas Eve
And a child is not home

So from a father to the Lord
A prayer did swiftly race
But the angel saw it first
And he listened to its case

After he heard the prayer
The angel swiftly set it free
And followed it to the father's child
In a far away city

And there the girl in desperation
Was searching through the sky
For a star that she could wish upon
But stars were in short supply

And the only light that she could see
There shining all alone
Was a neon sign on an old bar
And so on this, she wished she was home

Every light can be a star
Just depends on where you are
And the distance that you're looking
Past the places you have been

In an old city bar
That is never too far
From the places that gather
The dreams that have been

In the safety of night
With its old neon light
It beckons to strangers
And they always come in

And the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
The music was low
And the night
Christmas Eve

And here was the danger
That even with strangers
Inside of this night
It's easier to believe

Then the door opened wide
And a child came inside
That no one in the bar
Had seen there before

And he asked did we know
That outside in the snow
That someone was lost
Standing outside our door

The bartender gazed
Through the smoke and the haze

Through the window and ice
To a corner street light

Where standing alone
By a broken payphone
Was a girl the child said
Could no longer get home

And the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
The bartender turned
And said , not that I care
But how would you know this?
The child said I've noticed
If one could be home
They'd be all ready there

Then the bartender came out from behind the bar
And in all of his life he was never that far
And he did something else that he thought no one saw
When he took all the cash from the register draw

Then he followed the child to the girl cross the street
And we watched from the bar as they started to speak
Then he called for a cab and he said J.F.K.
Put the girl in the cab and the cab drove away
And we saw in his hand
That the cash was all gone
From the light that she had wished upon

If you want to arrange it
This world you can change it
If we could somehow make this
Christmas thing last

By helping a neighbor
Or even a stranger

And to know who needs help
You need only just ask

Then he looked for the child
But the child wasn't there
Just the wind and the snow
Waltzing dreams through the air

So he walked back inside
Somehow different I think
For the rest of the night
No one paid for a drink

And the cynics will say
That some neighborhood kid
Wandered in on some bums
In the world where they hid

But they weren't there
So they couldn't see
By an old neon star
On that, night, Christmas Eve

When the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
And in case you should wonder
In case you should care

Why we're on our own
Never went home
On that night of all nights
We were already there

Then all at once inside that night
He saw it all so clear
The answer that he sought so long
Had always been so near

It's every gift that someone gives
Expecting nothing back
It's every kindness that we do
Each simple little act

And so it's good that we remember
Just as soon as we're discovered
That the things we do in life
Will always end up touching others

So from a fading neon star
Somewhere shining in the night
We find a father far away
Now reflecting in its light

So the girl had reached her home
And the bar was closing down
As the angel started back
To bring his lord what he had found

An angel returned
That night through the sky
But time it was short
He had to decide

And so as he flew
Back over the land
A gift for his Lord
Was there in his hand

It was the glow of a light
It was the heart of a song
It was the tear of a child
Where they never belonged
It was the wish of a soul
On an old neon light
And the Lord smiled at him
On that cold winter night

And so with his story over
And our bottle nearly through
I asked, did this really happen?
He swore every word was true

Then he said I see you're puzzled
For your mind tells you to doubt me
That my story can't be true
But your heart tells you, it might be

He then asked, did it entertain me
And I admitted it had charm
Then he said perhaps you have learned something
Or at worst I've done no harm

Then he rose up from his chair
And he said it's time that he should leave
But may God keep and protect you
This and every Christmas Eve

Then he left through the front door
And I ran out to ask him back
But he was already gone
And stranger still he left no tracks

So I walked back to my home
Recalling all I've heard and seen
And for the first time since my childhood
That night I dreamed a Christmas dream

Merry Christmas!

Sorry that was so long. And no, I didn't write it. I wish I did. One of my favorite stories ever. Not even a poem, though. It's from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Christmas Eve & Other Stories" album. Just figured you'd never heard the album, or you never actually listened to the lyrics. Hope you enjoy it this Christmas.

And for those who couldn't figure it out, the three colors represent the three points of view. Black the bar patron & old man sharing the bottle. Dark blue is the story from the angel's POV. And light blue was the story from a different point of view, a point of view from a patron at the very bar that the old man & the story-teller were sitting sharing a bottle.