{"id":5728,"date":"2017-12-06T06:33:04","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T12:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/?p=5728"},"modified":"2020-09-04T05:20:21","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T10:20:21","slug":"mercies-found-christmas-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/mercies-found-christmas-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercies Found in Christmas Light"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Tom Sheehan<\/a><\/h2>\n

Poetry<\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Across this newly thickened pond
\nmy night skates chatter up clouds
\nof mist as dense as the Milky Way.
\nUnderneath, the fish disbelieve
\nthe sudden hardness of their sky.<\/p>\n

The darkness makes me love
\nall the mercies found in light.
\nOnly the blind could love light
\nmore, given one more chance;
\na flake of pond ice in their eyes<\/p>\n

with a star caught up inside.
\nIf I dare to listen I hear an event
\nof ice fracture, a shore-to-shore
\ncracking underfoot, schismatic,
\na round of forgotten artillery;<\/p>\n

or my booted cutlery slashing
\nlines on the sugar-white surface,
\ncrackling an electricity that divests
\nthinly clad wire. I am on the pond
\nafter midnight and there is light.<\/p>\n

Clarity speaks on cubes of air.
\nThe wind has teeth for the back
\nof my neck. Only my left arch
\nis tired, and that from an accident
\nonce on a night moving lightless.<\/p>\n

What matters is I am not blind.
\nLight comes in spheres, or long, thin
\nlines, in the dusts we know of ex-
\nplosions. Light is in the cold air
\nslingshotting pellets at my teeth.<\/p>\n

It is what first comes of darkness,
\nand all the mercies we\u2019ll ever know.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Mercies<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

Tom Sheehan <\/strong>served in the 31st<\/sup> Infantry, Korea 1951-52, graduated Boston College in 1956. His books are Epic Cures; Brief Cases, Short Spans<\/em>; Collection of Friends<\/em>; From the Quickening; The Saugus Book; Ah, Devon Unbowed; Reflections from Vinegar Hill; This Rare Earth & Other Flights. <\/em>His 28 published books include several western collections: The Nations<\/em>, Where Skies Grow Wide<\/em> and Cross Trails<\/em> from Pocol Press; Six Guns, Inc., <\/em>by Nazar Look<\/em>, and three titles issued in 2016: The Cowboys, Swan River Daisy <\/em>and Jehrico.<\/em> His works have appeared in Rosebud, Literally Stories, DM du Jour, Danse Macabre, Linnet\u2019s Wings,<\/em> Serving House Journal, Eclectica<\/em>, Copperfield Review<\/em>, La Joie Magazine,<\/em> Soundings East, Vermont Literary Review,<\/em> Literary Orphans<\/em>, Indiana Voices Journal, Frontier Tales<\/em>, Western Online Magazine, Provo Canyon Review<\/em>, Vine Leaves Journal, Nazar Look, Eastlit<\/em>, Rope & Wire Magazine, The Literary Yard, Green Silk Journal, Fiction on the Web, The Path, FaithHopeandFiction.com, The Cenacle, <\/em>and more. In process are Valor’s Commission, Keating Script<\/em>, and three collections.<\/p>\n

He has 31 Pushcart nominations, and five Best of the Net nominations (one winner), and short story awards from Nazar Look<\/em> for 2012- 2015, and a Georges Simenon Fiction Award.<\/strong> He is the 2016 writer-in-residence at Danse Macabre<\/em> Magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am on the pond after midnight and there is light. It is what first comes of darkness. “Mercies Found in Christmas Light,” poetry by Tom Sheehan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,48,1],"tags":[6,175,104,97,124],"class_list":["post-5728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","hentry","category-poetry","category-tom-sheehan","category-uncategorized","tag-christmas","tag-mercy","tag-mystical","tag-poem","tag-spiritual","post_format-post-format-quote"],"yoast_head":"\nMercies Found in Christmas Light | Faith Hope & Fiction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I am on the pond after midnight and there is light. It is what first comes of darkness. "Mercies Found in Christmas Light," poetry by Tom Sheehan.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/mercies-found-christmas-light\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mercies Found in Christmas Light | Faith Hope & Fiction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am on the pond after midnight and there is light. It is what first comes of darkness. "Mercies Found in Christmas Light," poetry by Tom Sheehan.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/mercies-found-christmas-light\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith Hope & Fiction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FaithHopeAndFiction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-06T12:33:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-04T10:20:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/free-online-fiction-poetry-art-150x150.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TrishCrisafulli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TrishCrisafulli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Faith Hope & Fiction\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FaithHopeAndFiction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TrishCrisafulli\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/faith-hope-fiction_logo.png\",\"width\":350,\"height\":350,\"caption\":\"Faith Hope & Fiction\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/\",\"name\":\"Faith Hope & Fiction\",\"description\":\"Quality Online Fiction, Poetry, and Essays\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/mercies-found-christmas-light\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/free-online-fiction-poetry-art-150x150.png\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/mercies-found-christmas-light\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/mercies-found-christmas-light\/\",\"name\":\"Mercies Found in Christmas Light | Faith Hope & Fiction\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/mercies-found-christmas-light\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-06T12:33:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-04T10:20:21+00:00\",\"description\":\"I am on the pond after midnight and there is light. It is what first comes of darkness. \\\"Mercies Found in Christmas Light,\\\" poetry by Tom Sheehan.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/mercies-found-christmas-light\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/mercies-found-christmas-light\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/mercies-found-christmas-light\/#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/#\/schema\/person\/a28900e37a2e4337aea039daa94ac8c4\"},\"headline\":\"Mercies Found in Christmas Light\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-06T12:33:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-04T10:20:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/mercies-found-christmas-light\/#webpage\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/mercies-found-christmas-light\/#primaryimage\"},\"keywords\":\"Christmas,Mercy,Mystical,Poem,Spiritual\",\"articleSection\":\"Poetry,Tom Sheehan\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/#\/schema\/person\/a28900e37a2e4337aea039daa94ac8c4\",\"name\":\"Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d985ff28de14b81d66b57434d9cdd54aeb6d753f9c7d8c8dfac6c91165988dab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Editor\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5728"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5741,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5728\/revisions\/5741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}