Christmas Recall, 6th annual MMHC Options

[Aphrodite]

She waits patiently listening for
hurried hooves on rooftops,
bells jingling, but hears
the pounding of her neglected heart in
the frostiness of December’s air,

her hands purple and chapped to the bone,
placed over a small fire she blows while rubbing
hard to generate feeling,

through faint colors of crimson red, emerald green
and glimmer gold, a rush of contentment
warms her insides as she harks back to
Christmas lights curved on snow-powdered
bushes in front of her childhood home,
a slight smile widens her burdened face,

she closes her eyes and breathes-in
scents of peppermint, spice, pine and
cinnamon, reminiscent of moments savored
with family, her heart weeps,

fantasy soon replaced by echoes
of gunshots,
a dwindling fire shared
in a rusted barrel
as city lights fade into the infected blackness of night,
the magic of the season lingers while
she clenches on to hope.