As Christmas Eve and Christmas approaches two births and one death come to mind. My older-sister was born on Christmas Eve which we will celebrate soon; Our Savior’s birth, celebrated on Christmas Day; and the passing of my friend and fellow poet just before New Year’s Eve in 2016.
Back in 1999 I wrote a lot of poetry, as did my friend Solana d’Lámant, aka: Sunny. We often shared our poems with one another. Often we inspired one another to write an ‘answering poem’ to what the other had shared.
Such was the case when I wrote “O Holy Night” on December 23, 1999. I shared that poem with Sunny. A few days later she shared with me her response: “West Texas Christmas Eve”, dated December 27, 1999.
Sunny, who spent most of her youth on or near her grandfather’s ranch outside of El Paso, Texas, was an accomplished ranch hand. No matter the weather or time of day or night, she was comfortable riding the ranch and it’s ranges on her favorite horse, she named Chango. Knowing the value of each cow and calf in her grandfather’s heard, it was anathema to Sunny to think of the loss of the little bellowing calf (lepe) I described in “O Holy Night”. So as only Sunny could, she set out in her poem, “West Texas Christmas Eve”, to save that little life, with guidance from above, and bring it back to her grandfather, who she called “Biggun” as her present.
I miss my friend and her poetry. Sunny was called home at the end of December 2016 having succumbed to an inoperable brain tumor.
Here are our two poems from December 1999:
Click on the image to make it bigger.
If you liked this poetic colloquy then I thank you and recommend Sunny’s book of collected poems: “Flowers for the living,” by Solana d’Lamant—available at:
