Christmas Lights

We decided to hang Christmas lights on the banister and the mantle
It was not Christmas
It was time

The corrugated cardboard box slumped
In a dark corner of the attic
Rarely visited

As I moved it below, stirring the dust
She sniffled and said
"It's just my allergies"
And did not sneeze

Cutting a shallow path through foundations of masking tape I pulled out
A Gordian knot of wires

I said that these things just happen

She said that we should have planned ahead
Been vigilant and taken care

I said that next time
We will

We placed the tangle before us
Untangling together
And there we found

Candles that boil in low heat
Unending bubbles blow
Emerging from the unknown below
Waiting to rise and explode

Blinkers blink
Unpatterned hot and cold

The bulbous head of a grinning Saint Nick
Ecstatic psychosis
We can't tell which is which

Duct tape patchwork littering the lines
So fingers that pry do not fry

Sugar sprinkled on colored globes
Tasting of sandpaper and nothing

And the jagged glass and wedged threads
Of the one we never fixed

When the knot was straightened and snaking along the floor
I found an outlet nearby and plugged it in

And it was beautiful