Times Past (Poetry)

I.m. Joan Walters

It isn’t that I don’t like Christmas
but I’m tired and worn out — like the year
it just isn’t the same as the old days
though it’s cheerful enough around here

How I miss them — the dearly departed
all those faces I loved from my youth
this deep yearning’s grown fierce as a hunger
I feel sad and I can’t hide from truth

Now the greetings card numbers get fewer
and I drift in a world of my own
where tradition has family gather
to remember the good times we’ve known

Those kind ghosts have me lost in a landscape
so familiar the voice in my head
as I doze in retirement home comfort
and dream Christmas Day with the dead