Around France

‘Tis The Day After Christmas In Uzès

“Tis the day after Christmas in Uzès. For those who wish you could see the decorations and holiday market in my favorite town, enjoy the tour! 

While you’re here, I would like to share my thoughts and feelings for the day. I’m no poet, yet it came out in rhyme.

Day after Christmas in Uzès

”Tis the day after Christmas in Uzès”

 

‘Tis the day after Christmas

And all through the town

Church bells are silent

There’s no one around.

 

Stores are all shuttered

Streets strewn with leaves

Le Mistral is swirling

It roars and it heaves.

 

Stone houses look vacant

There’s rarely a light.

Townspeople have retreated,

Resigned to their plight.

 

It’s the day after Christmas

Yet there is no reprieve.

The world is on lockdown

It’s hard to believe.

 

A virus, a pandemic

Brought by a molecular spec

Has taken down nations,

The world’s in a wreck.

 

It’s the day after Christmas

We’re down on our knees.

There’s hope in the New Year

Will it end this disease?

 

Families are struggling,

Children not fed.

The lonely, the aged

The sick with no bed.

 

A glimmer of hope

That’s all we need.

Then, just like children,

We have to believe.

 

Deborah Bine ’20

Barefoot Blogger

 

 

For more holidays in Uzès visit these posts:

Uzès Christmas Market In Real-Time

A Christmas in Uzès Preview

33 replies »

    • Thank you. I’m so fortunate to live here. Never thought it could happen. A dream! Happy New Year and thank you for your kindness.

  1. Wonderful to see all the photos of an Uzes Christmas Deborah. Loved them as never been at this time of the year. We were last there in September and enjoyed it as usual and even more so as couldn’t believe we would be able to visit from the UK. The poem says it all perfectly and captures how the world feels at the moment. Looking forward to visiting in the summer and hope by then the world will be in a much more happier and safer place for us all. Your blog shines such lovely warm memories of Uzes a place we really do love visiting – thank you. Sending you wishes for a Happy New Year.

    • Your kind words keep me writing. There is so much more to be said. This place is inspiring, isn’t it? Stay safe and well and you’ll be here before you know it. Thank you and please, stay in touch. Happy New Year!

  2. You nailed your poem! Things are shuttered and dark at the beach, too. We have it to ourselves. Happy New Year and bring on the vaccine!

    • Wow! I take that as a big compliment, Caroline. I admire your writing so much. It’s been too long since we met in Uzès. I’m waiting for you! Best wishes.

  3. I think this is a remarkable poem, Deborah, really wonderful. We must believe, we must hope, there will be some reprieve. It is hard, and here in London the light at the end of the tunnel seems considerably further away than it did a week or two ago. But light will come, and we will once again sit at leisure in the Place aux Herbes, and I don’t think we’ll ever again take for granted our good fortune in knowing Uzès and its manifold charms and delights, if we ever did. Stay safe, it’s now obvious that the new year won’t start well, but it should improve.

    • There is going to be such a flood gate opening into France I’ll have to get up early to save us all a spot in Place aux Herbes. What a celebration it will be! Thank you for your kind words about the poem. I woke up this morning with the words on my mind. I’m far from a poet!

  4. So true and beautifully said. You are a poet in my mind!! Thank you. I have fallen in love with France. Every year we have spent a few months in Paris and then relaxing in the south of France and just living like a French person enjoying the weather and everyday life visiting the markets and little villages….and we were so looking forward to our trip again this year having booked a lovely little beach front penthouse in the little beach town of Golfe Juan about 10 mins by bus from Cannes and Antibes. It was not to be and probably not even for 2021!! We are in our 70’s and our holiday in France has been our highlight that we look forward to each year. I love your blog and look forward to it.We loved hearing about all your adventures and especially how you went about moving there.I also fell in love with Antibes after reading Patricia Sands Provence series….having stayed in Antibes a few times and knowing all the places in the book made the series so special as you felt part of it. I felt quite deflated and sad when I finished the last book….I would always buy the book and keep it for my trip.Keep well and happy and all the best for 2021. I live in Vancouver Canada.

    • I’m so glad to hear from you. It is for you and those like us that I continue to write about my adventures in France. We can’t give up that we will still feel like traveling and enjoying the French life. So keep on with your plans. Patricia and I are in Nice and Antibes each year. You should join our Memories Tour. It’s for women just like us. Stay well and safe. Thank you for your kind words. Be sure to read Patricia’s The Bridge Club, too. It’s a beautiful story.

  5. Merci pour ce festif photo-spectacle et pour tes mots d’espoir. En attendant les vaccins, n’est-ce pas? Adieu, 2020…

    • Je vous remercie. Oui, j’attends le vaccin. Heureusement, cela viendra bientôt. Ensuite, nous pouvons à nouveau profiter du voyage. Soyez prudent et restez bien.

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