Golden Grains, Golden Light
Being in Australia, our Christmas is a summer experience. Light, sun, warmth, storms, grain harvest. All feature in rural NSW. This poem celebrates some of that experience. It was shared at the Rotary Gathering with Christian Leaders in Temora NSW.
Golden Grains, Golden Light
Golden grains, golden light!
In our ‘Southland Christmas’ night.
The light of Christ enters our dawn,
As we celebrate Christmas morn.
Storms crash by with lightning flash,
Fires then threaten the golden cash,
Cash in heads on golden stems,
All fenced and rowed within their hems.
In the paddocks day after day,
Golden grains formed in the hay,
Then the harvest trucks and headers strain,
Leaving golden stubble on the plain.
From the stubble the convoys go,
To the grain-dumps and silo,
In sun and wind and overcast sky
The waiting trucks in queue standby.
The golden grains go off to the mill,
And then bags and packets take their fill,
Warehouses and shops fill aisles and shelves,
Are like Santa’s presents among the elves.
The golden grains go in shopping trolleys,
Where families also stuff in lollies;
They go in bread stuffing of the Christmas roast,
And are in the stubbie raised in toast.
On that first Christmas faraway,
Some golden grains had grown the hay,
Wherein the infant Christ child lay,
The one who gave us Christmas day.
As the child later grew,
His followers spread to more than a few,
He taught of a planted golden grain,
That fell and died within the plain.
This grain rose from the earth towards the sun,
It shared in a great victory won,
A victory over death and sin,
For all of those who followed him.
So this Christmas we pray for peace,
For those interred to find release,
That the poor and hungry living in fright,
May wake to greet a dawning light.
A light of one like a golden grain,
Who was born to slake their pain,
Who like the sun will never wane,
Glowing among us like golden grain.
Simon C.J. Falk 12 December 2014
Simon's still stanza 