A CHRISTMAS POEM

It is June, not Christmas season. I was flipping a book of quotations at Salvation Army one Saturday, and there it fell down on the floor, a sheet of printed poem with decorated borders in the Xmas theme. No author name, no title. But the poem is so beautiful. I tried to google the name of author in vain, just because that poem is quoted from various sources with different names every time. So, let's just call it "A Christmas poem" from unknown author:

I have a list of folks I know, all written in a book

And every year when Christmas comes, I go and take a look

And that is when I realize that these names are a part

Not of the book they're in, but of my very heart

For each name stands for someone who has crossed my path sometime

And in that meeting they've become the rhymth in each rhyme

And while it sounds fantastic for me to make this claim

I really feel that I'm composed of each remembered name

And while you may not be aware of any "special link"

Just meeting you has changed my life a lot more than you think

For once I've met somebody, the years cannot erase

The memory of a pleasant work or of a friendly face

So never think my Christmas cards are just a mere routine

Of names upon a Christmas list, forgotten in between

For I send a Christmas card that is addressed to you

It's because you are on a list of folks I'm indebted to

For I am but the total of the many folks I've met

And you happen to be one of those I prefer not to forget

And whether I have known you for many years or few

In some ways you have had a part in shaping things I do

And every year when Christmas comes, I realize a new

The best gift life can offer is meeting folks like you

And may the spirit of Christmas that forever endures

Leave the richest blessings in the hearts of You and Yours

(Unknown author)