After I posted the Icon Christmas Card, the last thing I expected was some competition in the Christmas card business from my friend Darrel Fickbohm.
But
here it was, a beautiful Christmas Card (images above and at left), that captures
the true meaning of Christmas in words and artwork.
The original
watercolor, by Darrel's friend Peter Deming, would be enough to make
this a special keepsake. But there's also Darrel's poetry:
…
We sometimes forget—I forget
Lost in the clichéd images of a thousandCardboard dioramasWhat do I do with this picture?
It is simply stated in the recordA few lines onlySaying that He was bornIn a stable, a barn, a cave hallowed out for animalsBecause there was no room anywhere else.…There was the pulse of a bass note that thrummedRippled across the collective imaginingA new idea was coming,And once it was released no powerCould suppress it:…Love Thy Neighbor
When
Darrel isn't writing poetry, he works as a graphic artist, and runs a
successful framing gallery. "How odd that you should email me," he
writes, "at the exact moment that I'm finishing your icon's frame with
gold buff. Maybe miracles do surround the labors involved in producing
icons. I've always heard that they do. I love working on a project like
this. I always imagine myself as one of the old craftsmen laboring away
in their dim cells; working on their icons for the glory of God."
I
expected a beautifully framed icon from Darrel—but such a unique
nativity card with such a moving poem? Ms. Chesebro, the gifted English
teacher we once shared, will be so proud.
Thanks, Darrel and Peter!
