The Christmas Poem: A Gift for My Father, 2011

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We are pleased to offer a selection of poems from the Create Seasonal Poetry Challenge this December: to write a poem about a gift.

This poem is about a gift that won't be happening this year.

A Gift for My Father, 2011

It's that time of year again. When I should be buying you a present.
I should be thinking,
Perhaps a book? About the Iron Men of Metz? Those fighters who shared with you
The horror and the danger of that push into enemy ground, so long ago?
But most of them, like you, have moved on.
You're history now.
You tell your stories at some other campfire.

A pair of gloves? Good leather, keep your hands warm?
But those hands, so large and skillful, I last saw folded,
In quiet dignity, you in your finest suit,
While one sister sobbed, and the other,
Lips pressed to stop the tears,
Adjusted your pocket handkerchief, so that you would look your best
While the congregation said their farewells.

I wish
I had the choosing of a gift for you this year.
I'd like to buy you that Bible again,
Or some gardening tools, or cooking gear,
Or anything at all that would make you smile and say,
'Hey, thanks.'

I should be buying you a present.
Instead, I am thinking about how you need
Nothing from me at all, except
Perhaps
The thought.

Poems by Various Contributors
The h2g2 Post 2011 Christmas banner.

Dmitri Gheorgheni

19.12.11 Front Page

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