January 7, 2026

Holiday Holdover 

What can I do
for those I love,
caught in the
muddy backwash
of the holidays ?
Who are struggling
to muster
holiday cheer
when all they feel
is letdown?

Spouses lost or left,
health teetering,
finances floundering,
daydreams hit
by a mack truck
they never saw coming.

I can write a poem.
Send a photo.
Muse a prayer.
Say yes --
and no excuses.
It won't always
be this way.
The good or the bad --
but how we think it.

Beauty regenerates
in flowers, weather
and generations --
Life being itself
will not 
have the last word --
It cannot choke out
the incurable perennial
in all of us --

The resilient green 
will return --
without promises
in danger of breaking.