One Less Christmas Stocking

One Less Christmas Stocking

 

O ne less Christmas stocking to be filled this year

N o one can fill your shoes, not even come close

E very Christmas now there's an empty stocking hung upon the fireplace

 

L ingering memories of Christmas's with you will always shine through

E very year I shall place an empty stocking bearing your name

S o all will remember that you were once here

S o no one forgets how lonely my heart will always be without you dear son

 

C hristmas for me now is a sad time because I miss you so

H olding on to the past, so afraid to let go

R ealizing you are gone makes me cry

I  sometimes ask God why you were taken away

S o young you were, it just doesn't seem fair

T hen I close my eyes and say a prayer for you hoping it will reach heaven

M y stockings are hung now on the fireplace mantel with care

A s we celebrate another holiday season I take a deep breath

S lowly exhale and swallow the lump in my throat

 

S weet smelling pine in the air

T he Christmas lights are very pretty as usual

O nly they don't seem to glimmer as bright as they use to

C an't help but feel so utterly blue

K eep thinking about you all of the time

I  know in my heart your spirit lingers

N ow and forever beside me

G od willing to guide me

Reviews

[LSS]

You know Debileah, this poem reminds me of a tradition held by some of my Pastor friends. They too remember the passing of someone loved by setting a place at the dinner table for him at Christmas and on Easter. Christ also gave his life to save the life of others. I know your son wasn't sinless like Christ, but, Lord willing your son is with Him today too. Keep right on remembering how great your son was, remember he was Your Son!
Lar

[emmajoy]

A touching, beautiful poem... a tribute both spiritually and emotionally - entwined forever

[Spoken]

Holidays can be very hard for those who have lost loved ones. and i think sometimes we forget that. It's a good thing, i think, to put the stocking up.. he may be there in spirit with you always, but it's nice to have a physical place holder to feel closer sometimes. Though i know there's never a good substitute for him actually being there. very touching piece.

[Pax Analog]

A more developed Christmas-based memorial to your son, of course.

The heart is touched again, and the embroidered effect of the acrostic and more developed lines makes the poem seem more palpably like a Christmas present left for a beloved spirit.

Fine work, and the image is strangely haunting, as befits the subject matter.

[George Love]

We all suffer loss and this year we will set a table for one we lost. A dear man who loved us as his own, now after 98 short years, he is no longer gracing us with his presence. Like the love you have for your son, we keep remembering him every day. Stay strong my friend.

[Lena M. P.]

Very well done. Your love and sadness reverberates through this piece. May God bring you peace during the holy season.

[Charisma Moonfairy]

My family just suffered the loss of my step mother in law so this poem made me want to cry. It is beautiful and I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing this beautiful work.

[Silent Kim aka mizmetap..]

The holidays are hard when our love ones have passed on. We have those momories that haunt us with happy memories that fills our hearts with sadness. Life moves on and we find ourselves carry heaveir burdens.

[Dawn Davis]

From one hurting mother to another I have that same stocking I lost one of my boys early in his life i lost 7 babies and still have all their stockings this hits home on a number of scales! Great write hun I LOVED IT

[[untitled]]

O Debileah, I didn't realize you lost him... no wonder darkness takes you down, it would me also, but that you have the courage to write so beautifully about such a traumatic level of loss must help you, especially at Christmas when the loss must become so confronting and the question 'why?' must hang before you so irresolvably... I feel for you greatly, your poem is so filled with sadness and poignancy and grief, yet is also so beautiful...

David

[just is]

a sad and emotional write here, Holidays just don't help when you miss someone I knwo that feeling all to well. written beautifully and with heart.