37 Years of Christmas Poems: Christmas 2014

As you might have read in a blog post that I wrote just after New Year 2014, my father suffered a fall in his home in Florida and transitioned  from mortal form. It was ironic that I had spoken with him two of the previous three days and then, no longer. Life is like that and I understand that there is nothing given day to day, moment to moment.

This also left me alone in the sense that out of my nuclear family, I became "last man standing," so to speak. To me, this is not quite as big of a deal as it might be to many because I believe that no one really ever leaves. As long as one desires to keep the connection alive, those that have passed can reach us in different ways than we might be used to.

This also serves as a reminder to cherish and retain the best of your shared story and let all the rest go. Holding on to anything other than memories that bring about a smile to the lips and warmth to the heart does one doing the remembering no good at all. If those who remains will not nurture and love the memories, who will? This to me is what keeps the light alive.

That is the core of this year's poem. The end of the year can be stressful and yet beautiful at the same time. It is exercising the power of choice to focus on the good and turn away from that which feels bad. Simple yet not necessarily easy to do, I know. However it is a suitable way of honoring those who have gone before; worthwhile and life affirming. To me, that is something worth doing and certainly worth remembering.

Christmas 2014

By Richard Perrotti

December can seem relentless

as the days speed swiftly by.

It's like hitting the end of a ski jump

all wrong yet expecting to fly.

Shopping and planning, trimming the tree

all demand much of your time.

And scheduling visits with all you hold dear

Just seems an impossible climb.

So what can you say as the time slips away

and you try but cannot connect?

When despite all of your best intentions

Your calendar's hopelessly wrecked.

A saying of yore might save the day,

Plucked out of dusty old files.

When you can’t be there to express it yourself,

Send them greetings “Across the Miles.”

Across the miles to show them you care

And that you can spare a good thought.

Sending sentiments, any way, shape or form,

To save you from being overwrought.

Cookies and cards, Skyping and phone calls

Any method that we can contrive

To just stay in touch, maintain the balance

And keep the connection alive.

One tradition observed at all family tables

Before the feasting has started-

All will join hands, heads bowed in prayer

And recall all the dearly departed.

And yet when they're gone, they're not really gone

For their light still remains in your heart.

Let Their light shine and illumine your mind

To bid them come forth and take part.

Recall all the good, rekindle the love;

That's now where they truly reside.

The gifts that they bring will be precious

As the holiday Spirit abides.