2025 Holiday Poem Reading by Dean Bourne

Audio Reading by Phil Bourne

the blessings we count

By Margaret Furr

this time of year, there are many things to measure: 
the price of gifts we buy, for loved ones to treasure, 
the volume of traffic as people rush through town,
and the height of trees for homes, from farms, cut down. 
the number of days before the celebrated holidays, 
the calories in the food at the festive parties, 
the mileage of the trip to the cousins’ home, 
and the number of minutes the bells play in the dome,
the number of candles with fiery matches to light
and the brightness of the stars twinkling at night. 
but the best of all are the blessings we count
because if we tracked them with data, we’d count an infinite amount.