Peter Gates

On a Christmas Morn

 I awoke on Christmas morn,

Alone again, and quite forlorn

For there was nothing left for me

Beneath my festooned Christmas tree

 

Waking up on a Christmas morn.

 

Bright lights a-twinkle, tinsel a-glitter

Decorations on each branch were fitter

For celebration of the holiday season,

Though for me no rhyme, no reason

 

To arise on a Christmas morn.

 

No Santa Claus, HoHo or chimney

Sadness only, so cold within me.

No mantle, no stockings hung with care

Made less of me than I could bear

 

Being up on a Christmas morn.

 

That a tear came to my eye

Was expected, and no surprise.

Loneliness gripped my beating heart

I could not move or play my part

 

In rising on a Christmas morn.

 

There was no one around to care

On whether I could stand or bear

My being alone, so alone with me.

In time, my soul will not once more be

 

Awakening on a Christmas morn.

 

But Christmas morn afternoon became,

When family with its cheer soon claim,

Of good food, company and all the crew

Drive away memory, the lonesome blue

 

Of rising lone on a Christmas morn.