December

December is the cruellest month
but this year for once my cheeks are warm
After long years in the wilderness
I’m ready for the storm
Let them throw all their cannonballs
let all their strong men come
I’m ready to go anywhere
through venom, sick and scum
December isn’t always cold
This year she’s mine and I know why
Somewhere a flower has to grow
for every flower that dies
I’m stricken with fever
but my heart is strong as steel
I’m ready to go anywhere
I can believe! I can feel!
December is a trusted friend
I always recognise her face
It’s a plague of fools thrown aside forever
by her soft and silent grace
She is reckless as a mayday
gentle as a stone
and ready to go anywhere
to carry me back home
December fell deep in the bleak midwinter time
when Jesus Christ howled a saviour baby’s howl
a primal truth as pure as ice
And though we crucified him on a cross
and dragged his words from prayer to curse
He was able to go anywhere
He was almost one of us