Christmas Apology

she ... my joy - always slept there ... rescues, you see, she and her half-sister came just before Christmas, and the tree - its lights, Its protection, its warmth and refuge - was their safe place, especially hers - year-after-year. sweetest soul I've ever known … if not with me, (paws wrapped around my arm, head nuzzled close), that's where I'd find her - content ... secure ... her excitement each year when I put it up was irrepressible, (she would always supervise), her sadness when it came down - weighty, tangible ... yet even that did not compare to the ACHE I felt at the thought of her never being there again ... never brushing its branches with her tail, never cozy and quiet beneath its colored Christmas canopy ... I couldn't do it - I couldn't put it up, dress its boughs in lights, place star atop, dangle ornaments ... I tried, for the sake of others, but I just … could … not … for MY dearest Christmas gift will never more be bundled below ... though I love it so, I did not have the heart for that beautiful tree, and I may never have it ... again. Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden, December 24, 2022 ( photograph taken by Gregory R Barden )