Once Upon a Time
Once upon a starry night
A single star shown ever bright
Outshone angels hovering a field
Telling shepherds who rightly kneeled
Of the birth of the Chosen One
Born of Mary, God’s own Son
Wise men followed that singular star
Traveling for days from afar
With the shepherds they came to see
The King of kings who sets us free
Lying in a lowly manger stall
To save the lost, one and all
Each December I search the sky
But perhaps I should look in mid-July
Since we don’t know when He was born
Was snow on the ground or fields full of corn
But the fact of His birth is true and sure
Faith in His grace will salvation secure
As we gaze upon a starry night
Let us not feud, bicker, and fight
May we prove hate is defeated by love
As we ponder the heavens above
Knowing we are never alone
And mercy sits upon His throne
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For the Poetics prompt at dVerse Poets Pub today, Lillian is calling for poems that begin with a twist on an old cliché. Each poem is to begin with Once upon a but the fourth word cannot be time. (She didn’t say the title couldn’t be Once Upon a Time). Although it is not yet the Christmas season, this is what I came up with. I may parlay this into a longer poem before the season is fully upon us, but this will do for now.
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I like this take on the prompt. 🙂
Thanks!
A lovely tribute.XXX
Beautiful spiritual write.
Thanks.
My pleasure!
When I visited Israel, 5 inches of snow fell in Jerusalem (rare, but does happen!). Lovely Advent poem…I believe you could expand it 🙂 Your strong final stanza brings message home for us.
Thanks! It’s good to know snow in Israel is at least possible. I do want to expand this for reposting in December, though the final stanza will remain in the last position.
The last stanza is a beautiful reminder for hard times.
This story is a never ending story – the last verse is especially felt in these trying times. Excellent presentation.
Thanks. I agree that last stanza makes the poem.
Good use of this prompt.
Nice lines: “As we gaze upon a starry night
Let us not feud, bicker, and fight” Nice retelling of the story.
Thanks. I had no idea when I wrote the first line that the final stanza was the destination, but I’m glad that’s where it ended up.
yes so true and love how your words carry that singular truth, doesn’t matter when he was born, but he is born and he did come and will again.
Thanks. 🙂
You nailed it with the last stanza. Ironically, our Christmas myth includes St. Nick, who came from Germany. We mix snow and Christmas and the sands of Judeah quite liberally.
like the change of tone in the last 2 verses, and the doubt about when but not if he was born…..gets the reader thinking!
Thanks. Glad you liked it.
This line:
“May we prove hate is defeated by love”
Let it be so!!!
Thanks. I think that last stanza points to how this story relevant to us today.
Great retelling of the story… and for sure we have no clue how it was, but I think we can be certain that there were no Snow… it rarely snows in Bethlehem
Good point! Perhaps I’ll tweak that stanza a bit when I add to it.