This remains my single most ambitious "poetry production" and I am still so happy with how it turned out. Watching the video until the end never fails to produce a few tears in my eyes. It combines one of the most joyous places on earth and the height of the holiday season.
At the end of 2003, Jeri and I traveled to Disney World to usher in the New Year and spend a week after the crowds had all departed. It was wonderful beyond description. I had only been to WDW once before, a mere three days in 1984. This time I knew that we would have ten days to enjoy the experience and I carried along both the digital camera and mini-DV camcorder to document it.
Since all of the Christmas decorations would still be displayed at the start of our vacation, we made it a point to take in everything. As I was shooting so much video, inspiration struck and I knew that the Christmas poem for 2004 would truly be "magical." Sure enough, that was the theme that easily developed around the footage, especially the emotional ending of my favorite fireworks show of all time, "Reflections of Earth" in Epcot.
Seven years later, this still makes me smile. I can't ask for more than that.
Christmas 2004
by
Richard Perrotti
At first it’s a night just like any other night,
Mostly quiet, peaceful, serene.
But on the horizon, something catches your eye
And the magic begins to be seen.
Something as visible as a tree set ablaze
With shimmering, glittering light.
Or a gingerbread cottage with mansion-sized dreams,
The magic can be quite a sight.
Sounds of the season float on the breeze,
Maybe even on a midnight clear,
Awakening old memories, bringing lyrics to life
Delightful magic, enchanting the ear.
Choirs sing sweetly, horns herald the times
In a soundtrack meant to extol.
A silver bell tinkles as you reach for some coins
And the magic reaches your soul.
Topped with a star is the star of our show,
The heart of this holiday story.
Now no longer simple, but splendidly regaled
As the magic enrobes it in glory.
Dependable as the deepest of cold winter nights,
It lights up our lives with a flair.
We always wish to feel it this time of the year
But the magic is always there.
Exotic or simple, colorful or plain,
Taking form in vision and sound.
It always surrounds us, every day of the year
The magic awaits to be found.
For there’s only one magic, one life, one dream
As nourishing to us as the sun.
Hold in your heart the light of the world,
The magic of knowing we are one.
December 2004 events:
8th - The Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.
13th - Former Chilean dictator, General Augusto Pinochet is put under house arrest, after being sued under accusations over 9 kidnapping actions and manslaughter. The house arrest is lifted the same day on appeal.
14th - The Millau viaduct, the highest bridge in the world, near Millau, France is officially opened.
23rd - Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean is hit by an 8.1 magnitude earthquake.
25th - Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005.
26th - A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people.
27th - Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet.
30th - A fire in the República Cromagnon nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 194.
31st - The official opening of Taipei 101, the current tallest skyscraper in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 feet).
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