I often think to a Christmas long ago Sitting at the adult table with a runner of gold Two glasses in and reclined in my chair Listening to voices that soon wouldn’t be there The deep hold of etherness seizing me That some Christmas will be the last Christmas We all gather round the table to raise our glasses The heartspur in the moment almost raised me to tears Though I would save those tears for a year hence Fully embraced by kenopsia in an empty dining room With grandmother dead the family had lost its thread Splitting at the seams until Christmas was threadbare A sad aphasia that blood relations couldn’t overcome I still try to find the lisolia in those old wine glasses Setting the table with them for one time each year Trying to recapture those holidays long passed
A response to Linda’s writing prompt over at dVerse to use words from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.
Copyright © 2021 TJS Sherman All rights reserved.
Heartbreaking! Beautiful, and somber. Celebrate your family while you have them. One day, the empty place at the table will be your only reminder.
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No one expects it, though waiting for it is no way to be either
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That’s true.
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Sad and poignant. I enjoyed reading your poem very much.
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Thank you, I appreciate it
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I find the holiday season hard for this reason: all those memories of loved ones who are no longer around.
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It’s definitely a time of reflection and feelings of acute absences. I think that’s why it’s important to recall those good memories to help ease it.
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So it goes, Tom. My family is much the same in this way. We’re disintegrating as a unit.
❤
David
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As families get smaller and more mobile those large gatherings of yesteryear are diminishing.
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Such sadness…I feel it….raising glasses raising the tears is such strong stuff…
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We can always celebrate the good cheer we had and of course try to make new ones
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This poem poems strikes very close to home this Christmas with aged parents.
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I’m drifting into the territory of thinking about what I leave behind me as well as reflecting on what was left behind to me
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This is so well done- beautiful yet sad.
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Thank you!
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I appreciate it
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Oh my heart this is incredibly touching.
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I think that Christmas is so much for us, and it really is a time to remember what has passed, even though it is bittersweet.
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Agree, that’s why I endorse raising a glass in memory.
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