Let us empty ourselves of all but love this Christmas

Little children play happily
in a refugee camp………
Villages flee the wrath of weaponry
from both sides of the divide;
A boat capsizes
whilst some make it ashore;
For a myriad of faces it’s hunger
Once more.
Queues in the north for basic
Necessities….
And that too for a price they
Often have not;
Floods ravage some areas and
Thousands displaced;
A soldier arms a check point
Each day as the one before.

Mothers and fathers,
Sisters and brothers;
Wives and children
Bereft of a loved one
From North and South
East and West………..and
Each a Sri Lankan whatever
their tongue
Their tears, their sighs;
The dreams for their children
So often the same, yet a
Language divides them.

Oh that the Christ of Christmas
could transform us to see
Each other as brother and sister
of we.
His presence must make us
Speak up for the rights
of the minority and helpless, the voiceless
and unheard;

Christmas is HOPE
For despair and want
Christmas is LIGHT
In a land of darkness.
Christ is this Hope
Christ is this Light
Who came as a servant in human form;
He for whom we celebrate
Christmas -
Born to poverty and of lowly lineage.
Humbled Himself and became
obedient to death.....
and that, on a cross.

May we shed from our hearts
Pride, ‘our’ rights and our selfish nature
Yet, let us speak in
defence of another and show:
justice with mercy
That we may lift his and her eyes heavenwards
with a glimmer of
hope………………………..
Teach us to empty ourselves of all...
but love
that we may shed light in our land torn
by strife.

By Sarla Williams