Patrick Cornwall | + Follow Poet |
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A Christmas Present

A Christmas Present

Peeling back the memories and peering inside

 

I feel wrought with pain seeing you alone on the bar stool and the glass half-full of whiskey

 

I look at the presents  sitting untouched and waiting under the tree

 

It's been fifty  years now but it's fresh as the morning dew

 

Are you sad and did anyone give you a Merry Christmas

 

Did anyone  love you and hold you dear

 

Life has many twists and turns and the winds

 

They move us on even when we want to stay with the pain

 

Those feelings drive me home where they live and are nourished

 

The Christmas music plays on and the world spins until I look in the mirror

 

I wander if anyone loves me and thinks of me on my own bar stool holding my glass , empty and waiting to be filled

 

Do they know every time I laughed as a Christmas  song played in remembrance 

 

I thought of where you were but I denied that I cared and the song carried

 

I cared as I waited for you to come after each promise and the tears

 

I care now as I unwrap each memory on Christmas still

 

I care that maybe I don't try enough to be your opposite

 

Maybe I will end like you, alone and on a bar stool with the laughter that eludes

 

That when I'm but a distant peeling of remembrance

 

Will anyone unwrap my broken heart and hold 

 

Who will unwrap my love and open the box and see

 

And who will be the first to wear me with pride


 For My Father who was an alcoholic

Copyright © Patrick Cornwall | Year Posted 2012

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Timothy Hicks Date: 3/16/2013 9:02:00 PM Your poem moved me. We look up to our parents but wonder at the same time who they look up to? I have no idea what's it like to have an alcoholic so close in the family... but you give me a pretty clear picture of what it would be like. The last three lines really tied it up for me... to took look in the mirror and see yourself in all this and how it affects others. Very nice writing! Login to Reply

Poet Destroyer A Date: 1/1/2013 2:06:00 PM Patrick , making an appearance on the soup today. Only 2 wish you this coming year to be a glorious one in which rewards all your future poetry with success. I love the time I took out of the first day of the year. 1-1-2013* :-) Just to wish you the best of 2013. Take care my dear poet friend. PD Login to Reply

Harry Horsman Date: 12/20/2012 2:26:00 PM sad and very powerful poetry, like this very much Login to Reply

Poet Destroyer A Date: 12/16/2012 9:47:00 PM a very touching poem to unwind.... deep...thank you for sharing Patrick..always~ LINDA Login to Reply

Kathryn Collins Date: 12/13/2012 9:08:00 AM Dearest Patrick - but a distant peeling of remembrance I am so sad and relate on many levels. The details may be different but the result is the same. Devastation. Hope rings eternal to break the cycle one way or another. beautiful. Login to Reply