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Ode to Charlie Brown's Christmas
Our picture frame window
Is garlanded with evergreen limbs
Twined in white twinkling lights pinecones and fairy bells
And outside
From the dinner time dark that is a week before Christmas
Santa waves
Lit up like a little lantern
The hope for snow
Anymore
Any year
Has become as nostalgic as Perry Como
Singing from the static of AM radio
Golden retriever
Snuggles to my left
An arm rest
Our three-legged black cat
Asleep between my outstretched legs
Compensates
Dreams of a human leg attached to her empty hind joint
Cozies closer
Meows as if she’s running and leaping
Proper
My wife
On the other couch
Dressed in a red Christmas sweater
Her face clear and elegant as a glass ornament
Carefully preserved to our tree’s highest branch
Perhaps swaying alone in the living room
To the furnace vent
Our orange and white cat
A travel pillow
Wrapped
To the back of her neck
I can hear her purring from way over here
“What a shame Charlie Brown has been stolen
From us all
By Apple TV.” I say
“At least we have the memory.” My wife suggests
“Remember his destitute tiny tree
Decorated by Snoopy Lucy Linus and all their friends?
“And then together
They serenaded the snow falling
With Hark the Herald Angels Sing?”
“Yes I remember so well
It’s ancient message
First released
“From the year of my birth.”
Copyright ©
Robert Trezise Jr.
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