Christmas Eve Lovely night in Melbourne. Warm and windless too. Hare Krishnas are out again, beating their drums, dancing and chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna down Swanston to Fed Square. Crowds gathered at Fed Square swaying, singing, waving their battery candles at Carols by Candlelight up on show on the big screen. At Bourke Street Mall, Myer, H&M, DJs and Zara have all shut their doors. 36 hours of non stop shopping has come to an end, but only for a day. Here the crowds still remain, taking selfies, faces glowing from the light of their phones and iPads, worn out children dragging their feet, following their parents in this long and endless queue to see puppet Santa behind glass, elves and reindeer in the next window and in the next what else, who knows, no infant Jesus, Mother Mary, husband Joseph or three kings to be seen. There is love to be shared tonight, messages to be sent and read, loneliness to endure for some. I see a girl smoking on her own, scrolling for distant words of love on her phone that do not come. Now she lifts her head and stares at me as if to say, Leave me be I see the beggar tucked away in the darkened stairwell, no more money in his hat. There are children to be please, a crying child to be comforted with a toy dog made of twisted balloons, stretched long, turned this way and that, finally secured in knots.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 02:18:36 +0000
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