@terrycraft's Steemit Poetry Contest #9 Merry Christmas
"Mommy, where's Santa? Did he not come last night?"
Asked my 6 and my 4 year old, breathlessly waiting.
"We've tried to be good and we've tried not to fight,
and we've done all our chores 'thout complaining."
What do I tell them? Oh, what do I say?
That their food and the rent are their toys?
The hope in their eyes on this greatest of days
Breaks my heart. How to let down my boys?
A knock on the door, it's the old man upstairs
Says he saw Santa's list with a wink.
From a bag at his side he pulls three unwrapped treasures.
"Merry Christmas," he whispers then leaves.
On this greatest of days when God sent His Son to the world to be born, let's not forget how incredibly fortunate we are to be who, what, and where we are in life. If you're reading this poem then you probably have it better than literally 99% of the people on the planet. I know it's not always roses, but it could be so much worse. Please remember there are many people out there to whom Christmas is more painful than heartening. Drop off a toy, help a neighbor, give someone a ride....whatever, but remember the children and that God gave us His child for no other reason than He loves us. Merry Christmas!!!!
I was very impressed with the depth of the despair you were able to portray in the second stanza and how you were able to turn it all around with the final line. You're right, we are truly blessed not only in what we have, but also in our ability to give. Great poem. It's got me feeling all Christmasy again.
Thanks for reading. It really is amazing when you think about it. There are literally billions of people on this planet and when you stop and just put our situations in life into that perspective, we are truly very, very blessed.
This is so beautiful! I love that you managed to turn it around for a happy ending. Such tragic beauty, for I am sure there are children who won't get anything tomorrow. I am so grateful to all the local churches who organise toy drives and donations, one time as a little kid, my took me to a big centre where all the toy drive presents were laid out and mums could chose one from each section for each child. I was struck so strongly by the realisation these mums were just like my mum, my friends mums, the only difference was circumstance. Your poem brought me back to that moment, where a mum like any other, experiences the joy of presents she didn't think she could give. Good luck - I really hope this one gets chosen!
Thank you very much for the kind words. As I said in the reply to @moeknows above, we truly are very blessed in the grand scheme of things. Simple acts of kindness and giving can really have a profound impact on the world around us. It was a little tricky to fit the feeling I was going for into 12 short lines but I'm glad you found it successful. Merry Christmas...
This poem is very nice to write very good poems and the poem about the story of Marie is extraordinary@dagger
Thank you for reading! I appreciate it!
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by dagger212 from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews/crimsonclad, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you would like to delegate to the Minnow Support Project you can do so by clicking on the following links: 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP. Be sure to leave at least 50SP undelegated on your account.