A Yule Encounter

The world is all Jingle bells

And Ho ho ho

And Deck the halls

And he has come to

Say Goodbye

I hear nothing of the frivolity

The party turns dark

And my drink is ashes

He has come to

Say goodbye

Somewhere cold they

Are celebrating

The birth of the sun

But the light in his

Eyes are Dying

All the years are

Weighing on him

His shoulders shrug

Beneath the weight

of his burden

He has wandered

Our shared world always

Here and there

He has travelled, always,

On the periphery of my thoughts

Many are his sins

And many are

His trespasses,

If you listen to some,

Including himself.

Ever the wandering Highway man

The daring, dashing, swashbuckling pirate

The lover of the carnal and profane

The taster of forbidden fruit

The taker of his own and everyone else’s

He has done what he liked

And said as much

No regrets

No looking back

Full sails ahead

Now, his fear is palpable

And tells me, tears in his eyes,

“I want my memory

Given to the youth,

My legacy is my past”

We talk of the

Things we've done

And memories share

My heart is swept away

I’m lost inside myself

He leaves me to

Move on

He has more goodbyes

to say before he

makes his final move

I stare after his trailing

Footprints in the snow

My longing for days

Past rising like

Single, lonely candle in a window

The world is all Jingle bells

And ho ho hos

And Deck the halls

But I stare out

The open door

A solitary shadow trails

Along the dark horizon

Of my memory

But at least

He came to say goodbye