Christmas Eve

By Ailisha O'Sullivan

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midnight mass at Currans' church
the familiar interior transformed by
the sleep in my tired child's eyes
the congregation singing the
familiar foreign Latin
that the angels speak
adeste fideles
laeti triumphantes
and lights, lights, so many lights, so much light
as if Bethlehem's heavenly chorus
had thronged in with us
engulfing with their glory
suffusing with their song
lumen de lumine
blinding
blinding
blinding.

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Ailisha O’Sullivan graduated with an honours degree in History and English Literature from University College Cork, Ireland, and worked in the Chicago Public Library system for several years as a librarian and storyteller before moving to Cluj, Romania, where she held a position as managing editor at Koinónia Publishing. She currently divides her time between translation and editing projects and working with local non-profit organisations. Her work has been published in the Scriblerus Arts Journal, the Amethyst Review and the Dime Show Review.