A splendid Christmas reunion

 

Their heart got shattered to see

d' dilapidated church, old, broken

needed piles of work to set it right,

on Merry Christmas Eve to reopen

The brand-new pastor and his wife,

for them, it's their first assignment

to reopen it in suburban Brooklyn,

and celebrate the Christmas events

 

Set foot early in October, excited

about their opportunities to prove

truly tough, a go-insane project,

yet wished to be on the move 

A goal, set to finish by Dec 18th,

to have everything done in time

pews repair, the roof renovation,

and d' wall plastering and painting

Luckily did it ahead of d’ schedule

jubilated, it's about to be finished

but on d’ 19th of Dec, the tempest,

one driving rainstorm, horribly hit

 

It continued for a couple of days,

then the disaster, seen subsiding

with a sunk heart the pastor went

round the church d' next morning

D' roof leaked badly, from d' wall,

 fell off a lofty patch of plaster

d' front wall looked utterly shabby,

the floor flooded with filthy water

 

Cleaned up d' mess on the floor,

knew not what else to be done

deferred d' Christmas Eve service,

utterly upset and headed home

On the way saw an open market,

second-hand articles on a trolley

one of d' items drew his attention

a crocheted tablecloth looked lovely

 

Ivory-colored, with exquisite work,

handmade and cross embroidered

a charity sale, of just the right size

the front wall patch, to be covered

He thought for a while, bought it,

at once headed back to the church

couldn't solve d' mess, was in dark,

but did locate a path with little effort

 

Windy weather, it began to snow,

an older woman missed her bus

the pastor invited her to d' church,

to wait there till d' next bus comes

Was on his job, got a ladder, hangers,

to put up the cloth as a wall tapestry

hard to believe, so lovely it looked,

the oddity masked as if a mystery

 

D' woman got up and walked down

d' center aisle, absolutely startled

where did you get that tablecloth?

the eagerness her gesture revealed

Please check d' lower right corner

is an EBG crocheted into it there?

and d' initials embroidered in bold,

I darned it, in Austria, before 35 yrs.

 

The pastor narrated how he got it,

so suitable, so decent a tablecloth

we, d' well-to-do people in Austria,

had no fault but faced d' war havoc

D' Nazis came, and we had to leave,

d' next wk. to follow, was my husband

but he got captured, sent to d’ prison,

and then I haven't seen him once again

 

Live on d' east side of Staten Island,

came for a house cleaning job here

d' pastor urged her to drive home,

but she politely declined the offer

At least do carry your tablecloth,

the memorable precious belonging

for d' church, to mend the muddle,

it'll prove to be d' most suited thing

 

A superb show on d' Christmas Eve,

too pleasing, the church almost full

the carol tune was great, at d' door

the pastor couple greeted d' people

A senior man from d' neighborhood,

sat in one of d' pews, steadily stared 

in no frame of mind to leave at all,

he asked from where it was acquired

 

He pointed d' index finger towards

d' table cloth, hung on d' front wall

yrs. ago my wife hemmed a lovely

one, it precisely seemed identical

We lived in Austria before d' war,

leading a congenial conjugal life

Nazis invaded, the atrocity began,

to flee for safety, I forced my wife

Never saw my wife or home again,

since then, by now, it's 35 yrs. over

but just unable to imagine the fact,

d’ artistic pursuits could be so similar

 

Do permit me to take you for a ride,

drove to Staten Island, d' same place

had taken the lady three days earlier,

and helped him climb d' flight of steps

On 3rd floor, he knocked on a door,

and d' ajar doors did leniently open

a catchy meet at a gap of 35 yrs.

incredible to watch,

a splendid Christmas reunion