The Meeting
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
 
After so long an absence
      At last we meet again:
Does the meeting give us pleasure,
      Or does it give us pain?
 
The tree of life has been shaken,
      And but few of us linger now,
Like the Prophet’s two or three berries
      In the top of the uttermost bough.
 
We cordially greet each other
      In the old, familiar tone;
And we think, though we do not say it,
      How old and gray he is grown!
 
We speak of a Merry Christmas
      And many a Happy New Year
But each in his heart is thinking
      Of those that are not here.
 
We speak of friends and their fortunes,
      And of what they did and said,
Till the dead alone seem living,
      And the living alone seem dead.
 
And at last we hardly distinguish
      Between the ghosts and the guests;
And a mist and shadow of sadness
      Steals over our merriest jests.

 

"The Meeting” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Public Domain.   (buy now)

Today is Christmas Day, the day that Western Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

The Christ Mass was first celebrated on December 25th in the year 336. Constantine was the first Roman emperor who professed to be a Christian, and he is the first to mark the holiday. There are a few theories about why this date was chosen. The Annunciation — which is the Angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she had been chosen to bear Jesus, the Son of God — was traditionally celebrated at the spring equinox, around March 25.

For the first few centuries of Christianity, there was great resistance to observing the birth of Jesus Christ, or indeed any saint. Early Christians believed that birthdays should be mourned, not celebrated, because that is the day that people are born into their lives of suffering. Instead, Christians celebrated the day that a saint was martyred, because that was the day of their true birth into the spiritual realm. So people celebrated the Epiphany—the baptism of Jesus—and Easter — his death and resurrection — instead.

It’s the birthday of English poet and diarist Dorothy Wordsworth (1771) (books by this author), born in Cockermouth, Cumberland. Dorothy was the sister of poet William Wordsworth. For a long time, many dismissed Dorothy as simply her brother’s handmaid — she diligently wrote out his poems — but she wrote every day in her diary. William cribbed some of his most famous lines for poems like “I Wandered lonely as a Cloud” from his sister’s meticulous journals.

Dorothy Wordsworth’s parents died when she was a child, and she and William were sent to live with various relatives. Dorothy was always sensitive. The first time she saw the sea as a little girl, she burst into tears. When she and William were finally reunited, they never left each other, not for the rest of their lives.

“I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever changing.”

It’s the birthday of writer and producer Rod Serling (1925), best known for creating the popular television series The Twilight Zone (1959–1964), which examined human nature through the guise of science fiction and fantasy. The show became famous for its unexpected plot twists. In one episode, a GI can see which of his platoon leaders will be the next to die. In another, a malevolent doll named “Talky Tina” becomes the bane of a jealous stepfather.

Serling was the son of a grocer and grew up in Syracuse, New York. He was a chatty child and once, during a two-hour car drive, his mother, father, and brother decided to stay silent to see if Serling would notice. He didn’t; he spoke nonstop for the entire ride.

It’s the birthday of Clara Barton, born in Oxford, Massachusetts, in 1821. She was working in Washington, D.C., when the Civil War broke out, and she began tending to wounded soldiers. She was afraid that soldiers would lose too much blood if they were brought to a hospital, so she started the practice of treating the wounded at the battlefield. Eventually, she went on to found the American Red Cross.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.^® 

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