a christmas poem

i told you there would be a christmas poem

and i meant it at the time

but hours got away

there was a cough and i needed sleep

or thought i did

 

there is a full moon out

and somebody out there in the world

just thought about me so hard

that it sent chills from my head

down my back

 

and i thought to myself

i hear you

 

it has been a tough year

and i know that

i've said that before

but my mettle has been tested

and when the chips were down

i thought i was done

 

maybe not so much anymore

i seem to have got a second wind

i may still skip out of the stress-full job

and go back to time travelling

in the eighteenth century

they have wool there

and i can spin threads

just like old rumpelstiltskin

 

i can do that, you know,

have spinning wheel

will travel

 

my nest is far from empty

but i have suffered

from the eldest little eaglet

flying away

just a couple of three states

for six months so far

but no

i'm just not ready for it

 

she flew in for christmas

and wanders in and out of the house

still gone

but somewhere in the same county

at least

 

it is good to keep a sense of humor

especially in the midst

of all the tragedy

i understand now

what my grandmother meant

when she said

'why couldn't it be me?'

i would have taken any of their places

they were too young for funerals

 

but still i here am

and so many lessons left to learn

at my young old age

and merry new year to all of you

 

you are still my best gift

Reviews

[CD Campbell]

I would love to travel back to the eighteenth century with you, Emily. There you would be a hundred ways to die a glorious death. But I am sure it will come by a texting teenager behind the wheel of her new BMW. HAHA. This was melancholic and a little hopeful. You proved they can co-exist in one poem. Wonderful write. CD

[Chris]

as you are ours... Blessed Be Em...

[Wondering Mind]

Yes....
I hope you had a Merry Christmas and wishing you a wonderful 2016 ahead, Emily

[Tomás Ó C..]

"at my young old age..." - love that phrase... all the best for 2016 to you!!!

[Leslie Philibert]

Lots of threads spun together in this fine poem ; the ironical, slightly resigned voice, the yearning for a utopian alternative, the autobiographical asides, the fond, personal language allied to a universal humanity. So my best wishes to you for the holiday season.

[W.k.kortas]

What a powerful, wonderful, affirmative thing this piece is. The wonder of the ether, this wondrous amalgam of people we have never met and likely will never meet, and yet the strength of the bond, and if helps to produce things such as this...well, it is a blessed event of its own.

[kmartell]

I am glad you are still here and writing.

[Emily B]

Me, too. I have really missed my voice.

[Carolynn]

A ton of emotions in this expression of thought! I reflect on my life of trials, tribulations, kids growing older and leaving home - maybe different than what you're expressing here but hauntingly the same - love the part where you could feel someone thinking about you! Very good read thx

[Emily B]

Thank you for coming by to visit!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

god, where do i start with the favorite lines "at my young old age"
and i so relate to the "too young for funerals" several of my best friends died so young...and i wonder...why am i still here...and going back to the 18th century...sometimes i would like to go back to one of those past lives i really believe i lived...

this expressive piece blends reality and fantasy so perfectly...it is a gift in itself..

you write with power.

j.

[Emily B]

Just so glad to find my voice coming back to me