Twenty years ago, I wrote this poem as part of the Christmas Eve service at Grace Community Church in North Fork.

My then-teenage granddaughter Justine delivered it to the congregation.

Such as it may be, the poem was selected to be printed in a "Book of American Poems" by a prestigious publisher in the east and, in light of that, I offer it once again, as a Christmas gift to my readers.

"A Christmas Light"
The black velvet sky
was pierced by a Light
that shined from the heavens above.
Its beam showed the way
to a manger of hay
and God's own message of love.

The Child had arrived
that cold winter night
as the star in the east had proclaimed.
It beckoned to those
who followed the Lightto the crib of He who was named
"Messiah" -- "The Savior"...
God's gift to mankind.
And the star in the heavens
made Him easy to find.

Look up, even now,
the skies are the same,
just gaze at the stars
and whisper His name.
His love and His blessings
will shine down, this night,
to all here on Earth
who follow the Light.