The End is the Beginning

The end of autumn
The end of the days of shortening daylight
The end of Advent
The end of the year

The beginning of winter solstice
The beginning of growing daylight
The beginning.. celebrating Love come down, God with us
The beginning of a new year

As I get older
I get surer
Man's heart is colder,
His life no purer.
As I grow steadily
More austere
I come less readily
To Christmas each year.
I can't keep taking
Without a thought
Forced merrymaking
And presents bought
In crowds and jostling.
Alas, there's naught
In empty wassailing
Where oblivion's sought
Oh, I'd be waiting
With quiet fasting
Anticipating
A joy more lasting.
And so I rhyme
With no apology
During this time
Of eschatology:
Judgment and warning
Come like thunder.  

 But now is the hour
 When I remember
An infant's power
On a cold December.
Midnight is dawning
And the birth of wonder. 
 

 Madeleine L'Engle, The Irrational Season