As if Christmas isn’t hard enough

With its all your family home

And you not telling

One will never come home again

Not shouting your anger

But pushing hard a silent smile

A week later there’s taking down the tree

Alone as it only can be

When the anger wells

And the sorrow flows

At each ornament dated in the beautiful past

And the remembered guilt when they put up the tree

How I turned away crying inside

And please god next year

May I be able to join and help deck out the tree

And make Christmas a joy

For those still gathering memories.