When Death Must Come at Christmastime

May 28, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is grief in honor of those who have died of Covid-19 and of Memorial Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on May 25^th.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A poem about the special kind of grief when a loved one dies at Christmastime:

When death must come at Christmastime,

There is a special grief,

A mourning that must mix with joy,

A pain that must be brief.

There is an anguish underneath

The labyrinth of light

That longs for simple emptiness

To contemplate the night.

But life must bubble on its way

And pleasure be put on,

For neither sorrow nor delight

Is ever left alone.

And, like the Virgin, we must smile

With enigmatic grace

As we receive the fragile gift

That nothing can replace.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/whende.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Grief

May 25: Early On, There’s a Point to Regret

May 26: Matthew Is Gone and Will Never Be Back

May 27: You Were for Us Not Only Love, but Bread

May 28: When Death Must Come at Christmastime