Back Home with Us for Christmas

Emily Burton 

Across the festive store I see her
A mother knelt beside her child
Both conjured by the Christmas frippery
Entranced by the promiscuous lights
Dancing across their astonishment
Silver drums and golden trumpets
Sparkling peacocks and frosted fruits
Rainbow garlands and brazen tinsel
Stars and fairies awaiting their finest hour

I cannot help but move closer
Pretending to avert my gaze
To see the sparkling of their eyes
As whispering close she softly says

On Christmas night, just wait and see
Upon your bed, beneath the tree
There will be toys and lovely things
That kindly Father Christmas brings
For every child who’s good and true
Especially little girls like you

And thirty Christmases unwind
I am that mother, she is my child
They are my words
I thought she had forgotten
My sweet memory, my little girl
Back home with us for Christmas