Editor’s note:

                Ed Northen, a retired fire captain and paramedic who worked in the field in southern California for 34 years, could be considered the poet laureate of the Wood River Valley…along with former Blaine County Commissioner Len Harlig, of course!

Northen, who has been writing poetry for 20 years, has been published in Word Gathering, Ariel, Chimera and Poetry Works and reads at local poetry gatherings.

                He kindly allowed us to use one of his poems to brighten your Christmas Day!

                When he’s not writing poetry, you can find Ed at Galena Lodge where he volunteers on the BCRD Nordic Patrol. Or you can find him out practicing environmental stewardship, hiking, trail running and fly-fishing as a guide for Silver Creek outfitters.

The photo is by Daralene Finnell.

                             It Came upon a Midnight Clear

From the Mountain top
I peer through layers
Of wintry firmament

Air so translucent
It has dimension
I see beyond the stars

Whose gaseous state 
Burn brightly
Like fiery diamonds

Heaven is not far
Not in distances
Of light years

But in the invisible
The unseen
Which envelops me.

My vision is clearer
Among the celestial luminaries
When society’s chaos is removed

And I am left
With the sparseness of
Essential thoughts

I consider the forest
Resembling matchsticks far below
Living trees

Which need not be cut down
Except one
To make a cross

On which God
Must hang
To become the propitiation

And I, an heir
A bloody beneficiary
Of Love

On this sparse summit
Suspended in air
I abandon self

Until my voice erupts
With spontaneous chorus
This Eve of the Christ’s birth

Gloria in Excelsis Deo