Schönbrunn Christmas market

Beneath the pomp and circumstance
there is the body and the soul

and the Christmas market at Schönbrunn 
that feeds both the body and the soul

So the rain falls upon us incessantly
as we do the rounds and feed ourselves

on bread and cheese and sip mulled wine
Conversation is the thing

meeting a friend and exchanging time
and the warmth of human words

Here in the courtyard of the Kaiser’s
summer palace where it is winter

and the solstice a day old
and Christmas Eve almost upon us

we celebrate the civility
of our common language

There are baubles to hang on trees
and tiny sculptures of the nativity

but what is being born is the moment
in which we live the moment

in which we love : the precious moments
in which we are pleased to draw breath

John Lyons