Ghosts danced under the Christmas Tree. Laying there in a fidgety night, eyes opened as much as closed, I watch them parade through the dark spaces under the bright lights. Some I can call by name while others are unresolved feelings and emotions. My body achs for sleep but my mind remains focused so I dose to dream of past things that were never real and wake to ponder a future that isn't completely certain.
I suppose it's true that M*A*S*H is now that but to this day when I'm flipping channels and come across Hawkeye, B.J. Hot Lips, Radar, Col. Potter and the others, I stop and watch. Episodes I've seen a hundred times still speak to me. I continue to deeply care about each character though their lives have been been canceled.
And I love the song. "The sword of time will pierce our skins, it doesn't hurt when it begins, but as it works its way on in, the pain grows stronger watch it grin ..."
It's funny because the show is about surviving and doing your best to help others live in the darkest of places. The song with the haunting melody focuses on the hopelessness of survival. No matter how much you live, one day you're going to die.
Over Christmas I found myself drawn to the Gospel of Mark, my favorite, and one of the two that doesn't mention the birth of Jesus. Mark jumps right to the important stuff. John the Baptist dips Jesus in the river and the shit starts hitting the fan. Things rock-and-roll quickly and Jesus is crucified.
The following Sabbath his mother, girlfriend and another friend go to pay their respects to the dead Savior. When they arrive, the stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty. And that's where the story ends in the original version.
Tired of watching the ghosts dance, I look again at the lights of the tree before sleeping in heavenly peace.
