The Giving Season

The holidays are all about giving. We give gifts and cards, give love and friendship, give laughter and good times.

Albertos Rios, the poet laureate of Arizona, has a wonderful poem about giving:

WHEN GIVING IS ALL WE HAVE

                                    One river gives 

                                    Its journey to the next.

We give because someone gave to us.

We give because nobody gave to us.

We give because giving has changed us.

We give because giving could have changed us.

We have been better for it.

We have been wounded by it--

Giving has many faces: It is loud and quiet,

Big, though small, diamond in wood-nails.

Its story is old, the plot worn and the pages too,

But we read this book, anyway, over and over again:

Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand,

Mine to yours, yours to mine.

You gave me blue and I gave you yellow.

Together we are simple green. You gave me

What you did not have and I gave you

What I had to give--together, we made

Something greater from the difference.

Copyright 2014 Albertos Rios

in A Small Story About the Sky

Wishing you all the gifts of the season: peace, joy and friendship.