Winter 


To a Dead Robin on a Christmas Card
 



From other folks, a picture of a sleigh
with them inside and laughing all the way –
or people like they wished they were, at least,
bundled snugly, heading for a feast.
A snowy forest, not too deep, or dark;
the woods, in fact, look something like a park.
These are the glossy scenes the kindly send
to those they love or me, a kind of friend.
 
From me, alas, when Christmas comes a calling
the scenes received are frostily appalling;
two skaters near a sign – “THE ICE IS THIN” –
a window wendigo who’s leering in,
or this red-breasted corpse they’ll never thaw out
to prove the yuletide weather’s rather raw out.

Ed Shacklee

The illustration is a genuine Victorian Christmas card.
For more insight into such cards, see: https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-war-on-christmas-cards/

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If you have any thoughts about this poem,   Ed Shacklee     would be pleased to hear them.