still night
as so often was the case
when everything was reported
and there was nothing left to do
but catch the culprits if the police
were going to do that, note takers
closed and put away their notebooks
whether paper or electronic
and walked away to do whatever came next
but for the victim and her family
they were left with the frustration
that it was and might always be still night
maybe holy
in one version of the story,
angels filled the sky
and sang hosannas and praises
above a bunch of shepherds
cowering at the sudden jubilee
so much so that when the angels
stopped their singing and left,
the shepherds abandoned their
flocks and hightailed toward town
where they found a manger
a baby, a worn out new mother,
a terrified old man, and three men
ostensibly wise equally in wonder
later that morning they had to explain
to their employer why they didn't know
where the goddamned sheep had gone
but for a moment at the manger
it was still night, and maybe holy
pre-dawn
once a little boy and his sister
woke in the middle of the night
sure they had heard sleigh bells
jingling away, so they rubbed their eyes,
held hands, and walked to the stairs
and down them, to look at the tree
and both sat down astounded
when they went to bed, a bear had sat
near a drum beneath the tree
but what their wondering eyes saw then
was forty-leven packages, a bicycle
and two dolls, a plate with crumbs
in it, and a mug with a tablespoon
of coffee left in it, they whooped
and roused their parents, who also
came down but the parents complained
"for pity's sake, it's still night!
couldn't you have waited until dawn?"
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