The forgiven world
Sits
Inside a small boy
Who waits on the porch
For his father to come
Home
A light snow falls
Outside
The sound of setting plates
Comes from the house
Christmas Eve
The boy’s mother
Too busy to wait
For a man as likely to show
As Santa Claus
Because he is tired
Of wrapping gifts
Of telling reindeer stories
And making excuses
For Saint Nick
Tells him he is sick
The world of women
Doubts all men
But the boy does not doubt
Anything
Except when
He waits quietly
As the sky moves
From white to red
To gray
Abandoning all light
On its way away
The aromas play seek and hide
In the house
Not enough
To draw him inside
Somehow
The boy becomes aware
Of the bitter cold
Creeping up his spine
And a tightening
In his stomach
That won’t unwind
A little later he resigns
To the darkness
Moving past his mother
Careful not to meet her eyes
He pretends he doesn’t care
He tries
She watches him
Climb the stair
To his room
And slide away
From childhood
To bed
Closing his eyes
To the toys on the shelf
Of his room
He lifts off
Hand in hand
With a snowman
An eagle’s view
Of the sky
And the village below
Sleeping
No one knowing him
Or what he hides
He finds an empty space
By the evergreen tree
Imagining a place
Where his presents will be
Where someone will come
When he wakes up
In the night
To say everything’s okay
And turn off the light
Where someone will tell him
About angels
And love
About his guardians
Or the days to come
To mend the past
Why time moves
So slow yet fast
And why you have to look
Back
For things that last
The boy’s mother prays
For his sake
Knowing his whole world
Is breaking
The night fades
And thoughts of the day
Start to loom
Weaving a fabric
Of life resuming
The boy wakes again
And leaves
Himself
To ghost
The world of men
Who know
The numb eternity
Of the porch
Where a dream
Dies
And a dark torch
Never arrives
© 2023 Julie Flanders
April is Poetry Month Day 27
To learn more and ENTER our 5th annual poetry contest, please click here: https://octoberprojectmusic.com/poetrycontest/
October Process 