[Spoken Word]
Now why this man's soul was bleeding
The angel had to understand
So invisible, he stood by him
And then gently touched his hand
Which caused the man to stand there still
Despite the winter's cold
And while he stood there in that trance
The angel read his soul
It seemed the man was not always like the man he had become
And that angel wonderedhow that change had happened
And when it had begun
The man had been born to a kind and religious family
And raised in thе midwest
And all throughout his childhood
This man clearly ahd been blessеd
He grew up believing, among other things
That man was made in the image of God
He went to school
Observed all the rules
While working very hard
He had always tried to help others
Excelled at nearly every task
And when he graduated high school
Of course, he was the first one in his class
And in his eighteenth summer
When it was time for him to leave
He had offers from several colleges
All of them Ivy League
And at college, in all of his studies
He always recieved straight A's
And when he tried his hand in theater
He got the lead in the senior play
It appeared to nearly everyone
There was no talent that he lacked
And for three years on the football team
He was the star quarterback
And there he also met the girl
Who did become his wife
With her, his world was now complete
He had the perfect life
When they had graduated college
They were wed in a ceromony quite grand
Then they moved to New York
In a dream they seemed caught
Where all had been perfectly planned
She decorated their Park Avenue apartment
In a 1920's art deco style
And six months after they had moved in
She told him they would soon be having a child
And after their first ultrasound
He knew they were having a son
Their lives could not have been better
And they had only just begun
Together they arrived early at the hospital
Upon the delivery date
The father was taking no chances
And did not want to risk being late
But while waiting outside the delivery room
He could tell that something was going wrong
For too many doctors were rushing in
With none coming out for too long
When her own doctor finally came out
With several nurses at his side
He said that his wife had started hemorrhaging
And despite their best efforts
She died
Then in an effort to console him
A nurse gave him his newborn to hold
But from the way the child felt limp in his arms
He knew there was still more bad news to be told
The doctor then gave the prognosis
As gently as anyone could
But before he could finish explaining
The father only too well understood
The child had been cut off from oxygen
For minutes, which is far too long
The damage was now irreversible
His brain permanently malformed
He'd never hold a job, learn to read, or even talk
And it would be a miracle if the child even learned how to walk
And with those words
The father felt his entire world falling apart
And he stumbled for the words to express
The tearing inside of his heart
He cried out, "Why did God have to take her
While she was still so young?"​
And then as if to cut him deeper
Leave this thing here has his son
"Please, explain to me God's wisdom
How could he decide to take from me my precious wife
While leaving, this alive?​
There is no reason for this life!​
Why does he even exist?​
And if he had never been born at all
There is no way he would have ever been missed!​
If man is made in God's image,​
Then something here is surely amiss.​
For in the child I now see before me,​
There is nothing of God,​
Nothing of God, nothing of God, nothing of God,​
Nothing of God in this."​
And then he asked for the child
To be placed in a state run home
And after he had signed the papers
He walked into that night alone
And in this world he found unkind
He built a wall around his mind
And every year he'd add new parts
Until it had also enclosed his heart
He kept his job and paid his debts
As he slowly became a silhouette
Of a man walking among the tombs
While living his life within his wounds
He distanced himself from all of his friends'
Even his sisters and brothers
And as time went by, he developed an eye
That could only see the flaws in others
With this final glimpse the angel stepped away
And the man shook himself out of his trance
Then continued his walk back towards his home
And few would have given his soul half a chance
And the angel himself felt helpless
As he watched the old man there
So he did what even humans do
And he quickly said a prayer
And as the prayer flew to his Lord
The angel did decide to carefully follow the old man
And stay closely by his side
For on this night can one deny
The gift of a more sympathetic eye
To cast upon our fellow man?
And on this night, to understand
The frailty of childhood dreams
Like fireflies over summer streams
And if one dared to remove time's veil
Could one retrace those childhood trails?
But whispers in the winters wind
Told of rescued dreams, forgiven sins
And who among us shall be deemed
To rescuse some forgotten dream?
So on this night, Christmas Eve
As once again the spirits weave
It snows wet dreams and colored lights
With bits of magic into each life
And as the snow comes gently down
It's sole intent to reach the ground
To cover scars the world still feels
Perhaps to give them time to heal
Or as men invest in money
And professors in what they know
God invests in mercy
Like winter invests in snow