Once Upon a Colorado Christmas

Splendor of soft shoulders caressed by sinking sun Out my window the western slope of the thick coated Rocky Mountains Once upon a clear cold Colorado Chrstmas purple brushed horizon flecked with gold filled my picture window Mesmerized I stood staring at this huge canvas hung in the Louver God's and goddesses swirling about in a swath of psychedelic clouds refracting the colors of slow dimming light Mt. Olympus in my living room I was seventeen living in a dream high up in the sandstone cliffs carved out by the west's Mississippi Nature, sweet mother of mine, purging my childhood nightmare with sunsets mountains, rivers and springs On the banks of that fat river below I listened to nothing but hope Even in the echo of crackling ice Even when she froze everything still she made life beautiful Never ever did she punish my anger but kissed it away with her love with forests, flowers, birds and trees She gentled my soul when I held her hand and took me back from the jails and hospitals every time I ran Seventeen, fresh from my last disaster Christmas Eve eight hundred miles from expulsion and friends I missed my dreaded return to the last place I left There she was… … arms spread clear across the valley to hug me… her renegade child My mother, bless her heart-- --wasn't happy to see her headache return But my "other" mother was.. yeah I took refuge in the painted cliffs and canyons that surrounded me and when I came down to the valley floor I would stop before the bridge and walk down to listen to the big water's mighty roar… It never stopped rolling and never ran dry despite all obstacles and neither did I My savior doesn't have a birthday but I will celebrate my hope in "His" Just that warm sun slinking like a coyote over the western horizon that Christmas Eve is all the hope I'll ever need