by Sigrid E. Mortensen
© 2023
Imagine
If you will
That you are a child on Christmas morning.
You rush to the tree, as sleep still clings to your eyes,
And breathe a gasp of excitement
With a blink
Amazed
At your
Abundant
Pile of gifts
Wrapped in shiny paper
Each bearing your name
Each the promise of delights yet to come.
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Then
That mere moments later,
Your beloved friend stumbles into the room behind you
Just seconds after you have noticed
That his pile is smaller than yours,
The sizes of his boxes mere fractions yours
His total number fewer.
At that moment
You stand at the crossroad of two paths.
Hurriedly, you choose one.
Instinctively,
And out of love for your friend,
You shove your gifts behind you
Hide them in the shadows
So he cannot feel envy toward the
Unfairness, the
Inequity
Of your two piles.
He, too, is delighted
At first
That he has gifts
Then just as quickly thinks
But only because you have hidden them
That you have none.
Out of his love for you
He hides also
His gifts.
And although you know better
Because you have seen them,
He lies
A sweet lie
And tells you he has no gifts.
“Let us go play in the dirt together,”
He suggests.
And because you love him,
You follow him outside.
You can’t make much out of the dirt.
It is dry
And dusty
And doesn’t hold its shape
And even though you both know that just inside
Is a grand pile of hidden treasures
You both reason that it is better
That you both have nothing
Than for one to have more gifts
When the other has few
Or none.
Back in the room
The Gift Giver sits
A tear slowly tracing down her cheek.
She had so anticipated that each of you would
Open your gifts
That each of you would
Squeal with excitement
Over treasures chosen
Especially for you
Gifts labored over
Pondered
Sought out
Brought home
And lovingly wrapped.
She weeps at the quiet tragedy
Of gifts left
Unopened.
Imagine, now
Instead
That you had chosen the other path
And when your friend trailed behind you into the room
And spotted his bounty
You smiled with him.
You encouraged him to tear open his gifts
And he watched with shared pleasure as you opened yours
And you both delighted in each other’s good fortune.
And you noticed that
Although his gifts were smaller
And fewer than yours
Each was powerful
And suited perfectly to him.
And yours were plentiful because each was intended
To work with the others
In a way
Only you
Could combine
To create something beautiful with all of them.
He would not have wanted your gifts
And you would not have wanted his
But together, oh! What you can create!
Once unwrapped, your gifts can help you make something
Wonderful
To share with your friend.
And he can make from his something
Wonderful
To share with you.
And the Gift Giver sits back and smiles
Filled with a heart overflowing
Satisfied
That she knows you both so well
That she has given each of you
The perfect gifts
To share with each other.
To share with the world.