Christmas Carol

Christmas, like weddings

Should happen as seldom

Everyone dangling

Emotional tensions

Seeing one another

Trying to relate

Missing and crying

Everyone is hurt

About something

Someone else said

Jokes which seemed funny once

Destroy dinner

Food held above

The lump in ones throat

Washed down

Finally with tears

Parents trying to understand

Their children who not Children anymore

Sons and daughters wondering why

Their parents still act like parents

Missing those who could not

Or would not

Come home

Christmas never is like it was

Because it never was

Christmas when football games offer relief

Because no one dares talk out loud

And ignoring one another

Needs no excuse

Christmas is too hard

Christmas is too sacred

Christmas is too family

And yet when the TV tunes into

Free food for the homeless

We remember briefly

How much we have

Because we have one another