Christmas 1945

According to Jay Parini, Walter Hard was one of Vermont's most beloved local poets, though his reputation has not traveled beyond the state's borders. His numerous volumes of poetry depict small-town life in rural Vermont. The excerpt below seems particularly appropriate, given the current state of world affairs in 2001.

It was all just as he remembered it:
The long village street with the irregular Green
About half-way down.
There were wreaths in windows and on doors,
And colored lights that would come to life at night.
Yes, and there was the big tree on the edge of the Green.
He was glad they had all these things back,
Just as they used to be before he had gone away.
He thought, as he drove along slowly,
Of all the strange places where he'd remembered that street.
The thought of it had often been the thing
That kept him going ahead --
Remembering to make himself forget.
He found so many packages
In the post office at Brayley's store,
That he had to make two trips to the pickup truck.
When he came back for the second lot
Old man Peters, who was sitting back of the stove,
Stuck his head out and said:
"Well Charlie, looks as though you'd bought out
A hul city store on your way back from discharge camp."
Charlie, who had almost forgotten the life of four years back,
Suddenly felt the home warmth in the old man's bantering tone.
After he had gone out, old man Peters shook his head.
"Can't see how they stood what they did.
I recollect, musta been 'bout a year ago now,
Charlie's father had a letter tellin' as how
The boy's outfit had got caught there in It'ly,
Been under shell fire fer a week, day and night.
Course Charlie spoke of dodgin' high explosives,
Makin' light of it.
I recollect he spoke of spendin' th' night
In a barn with the front blowed away."
Brayley sat with a far away look in his eyes.
Then he said:
"I recollect that letter.
I know it come just this time o' year.
The boy said he slep' in a manger."

Source:  Richard Brown and Jay Parini, A Vermont Christmas, Little, Brown & Company, Boston, MA: 1988.