How poignant does today's poem sound. We want our close ones safe, be it on antipodes or in our home towns.
All I want for Christmas
Claudia Sukman
You were motionless under the blankets
Waiting for Santa Listening to the whispers of your father and me as we slipped in and out of rooms
Unearthing presents to wrap
Listening to the savory sounds of scissors, marching through gift paper
Listening to the scrunch of cellophane tape, measured out and sliced
Closing eyes to hurry away the night
So that it could be Christmas
You are motionless inside the darkness
Hearing shows slither though the Baghdad night
Hearing the heavy fabric of a chador sweep into a recessed doorway
Hearing the exhale of a breath un-tethered
You wait, wishing for the dawn to come
So that it could be light
I am motionless, watching the snow whitewash the night sky
Inhaling the Christmas tree
Shaking our the last drops of eggnog from the carton
Waiting
Wanting you safe
Wanting you home
'All I want for Christmas' by Claudia Sukman. Included in Stocking Stuffers / seasonal and holiday poems by Prehensile Pencil Publications. For purchase at Think Long Island First.
Published with author's permission.
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