My "religious" poems are often not orthodox. There are events in the bible that match with what we "know" from history - for example the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II and the exile of many of its inhabitants to Babylon. Then there are events where there is no current evidence other than the bible, and ones for which we cannot expect to ever find any further clues. Breathe is a poem that thinks about what happened before the start of Creation. I probably won't get my doctorate in Theology for that one.

Tom Lehrer takes a satirical look in his Christmas Carol "to reflect on what we all most sincerely and deeply believe in. I refer of course to money." I am nowhere near as talented enough or satirical enough to emulate Mr. Lehrer, but I agree with the sentiment. If you are truly Christian, then what has Santa & Rudolf have to do with it. Why chop down pine trees that are not native to Israel and stick them in our lounge rooms with tacky decorations which we lovingly store a fortnight later until next year.

This poem lets you know what I thought of that in 1976. Not a great deal has changed, but I have put up Christmas trees too - sometimes it is necessary to keep "Peace on earth" by starting in your own house, especially when you are not convinced that the accounts of the birth of Jesus have any historical veracity. As a "lesson to the student" I often ask people where Jesus was taken after he was born. The usual answer is that his family fled to Israel until after Herod died,, but that's Matthew's tale. Luke has a different story - no Magi, no persecution by Herod - the family went up to the temple in Jerusalem -  Mary needed to be "purified," and Jesus "consecrated to the Lord." And then they went home to Nazareth. Mark (the writer of the earliest Gospel, and on which Matthew and Luke appear to largely base their stories) has no "birth story. So why does commerciality of Christmas bother me, if I don't believe in the Christmas tale?

If Christianity means anything, "Peace on earth and goodwill to all" is a part of it. Love thy neighbour as your self; faith without good works is dead; Judge no, lest you be judged; Let him without sin cast the first stone; Neither will I condemn you. To me this is the spirit of Christianity, and those principals apply whether or not you believe Jesus was the son of God or just a great teacher. They are the things I'd like to think about at Christmas. My view of the hierarchical church is that it often doesn't appear to be very Christian, and those who insist that the bible is literally true at all times are deluded, or sometimes out for a quick buck or power as some tele-evangelists and cult leaders have demonstrated.

As for Santa, Jesus the person appears to have existed. Santa is at best a severe distortion of St. Nicholas. I don't criticise those who like Santa for their children, but I disagree with the concept. We taught Jessica from an early age that we celebrated Christmas to remember the birth of Jesus, and presents came from us, not from Santa, just as we gave them to our friends and relatives. Jessica was happy about that, although she enjoyed the "theatre" of Santa, and promised not to tell the "little ones" about that man in the red suit with an obviously false beard.

The funniest thing about that was when Juliet and Jessica where in the queue at Woolies after Christmas one year, a nice older lady turned around and asked her what Santa had brought her for Christmas. Jessica replied "Nothing" and apparently the lady looked horrified that our child got nothing. So Juliet felt she had to explain that Jessica got lots of presents, from us, as we celebrated Christmas and not Santa. 

As to the poem: form and structure is iregular but there are various bits that drive it forward. The staring line repeats regualrly, but not always. Elsewhere (unknown but promised on consecutive lines) There are rhymes that appear at the ends of consecutive lines (confusion and illusion); alternate lines (surprise and dies); lines 6 apart (stare and air) are all examples. You will find lots more. the images of sound dominates the first third of the poem. The cacophony changes to visual disturbance and then to anger, to psychological disturbance.

Peace comes through pain, from birth and hope. We find a point to life in its continuence, to innocence. You can't get angry and fight with a new born - it can not answer, it can only be.