Grandmother's Yellowbird Christmas

A Christmas Poem

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandmother’s Yellowbird Christmas

Yellowbird Christmas

Drinking from a jar

Watching for the Northern Star

While eating piping hot apple tarts

Listening to the bells as

They played their part

Tears dripped down her face

As old childhood memories

Poured from her heart

Her Father's dying

Words before he would depart

They never left her mind

Or fell apart

They shot an

Arrow through

Her heart

 

 

 

Author's Note

One Christmas when my Grandmother was drinking Yellowbird cocktails, which she only drank on Christmas. She spoke of her father's dying words. She cried and it broke my heart. But he died before he could get them out. So she never knew what he was trying to tell her.

Reviews

[Alicia™]

This is heartbreaking… Thank you for sharing this with us.

[Mauricio Montoya]

Thank you for sharing.

[tynamite]

It's Christmas. It should be happy and it isn't. Then it just ends the way it does. It's just sad and I can't imagine how she felt.

[Tina Kline]

Very sad, words started but never finished. How that would haunt a person for the rest of their life.

[Robin]

unsaid words ~ always a mysterious void to fill

[Michael of Gilead]

Since we don't know, the wonder is would they have imparted even more sadness or would she have used them for support.

[Twilight]

Despite the sad inspiration for this poem, it seems to be quite a quirky and playful piece of writing. The flow is not that great, and it does seem slightly stilted in places. At the end, it is particularly moving to read how the writer's grandmother was emotionally wrecked - as if an arrow had been shot "through her heart". This piece could also be appreciated, as a reminder of the outward ways in which grief can be expressed. Indeed, tears alone are sometimes not enough, to express extreme states of sadness.

[Goodbye]

So, so sad...yet such a great telling of the story of your Grandma's heartache.

Excellent.

[Norma M Sutton]

I can only read part of this Marie. I guess it's my eyes, but the embossing blends in to the background.

[KATHY SUE SILLS]

You are so talented with your poems! Great poem!