Upon Us Again, The Holidays are Dead

Here come 'dem holidays again,
Making Sam and Ben smile when you spend.
First comes the big feast,
Over stuffed beast shoved passed the teeth.
When it's over sit and have a drink,
Plop down so feet and legs are off the ground.
Listening to the beat from outta a box,
There be it right between those feet.
Now comes the wishing for a box seat.


'Morrow comes it's the Friday of the black,
All sellers are glad the buyers are back.
People shop here, people shop there,
and all shop everywhere.
So much traffic just goes 'round and 'round,
Ol' Ben now wears a happy gold crown.
The madness goes on for more than three weeks,
Makes a head spin 'til it all peaks.


All is so clean with nature's commercial gleam.


Mothers and fathers with daughters and sons,
Wait for the day that's mostly for little ones.
Soon the day is here with a credo supposedly for all,
You know the one better to give then of receiving at all.
At the end everyone and all who can,
Receive gives from their family, friends, and kin.
While little ones scamper about a tree trimmed to glimmer,
And watching as their smiles shimmer.


Scrambling to unwrap their packs with scribbled on names,
Next comes cleanup followed with a feast of the same.
Equaled too that of the one before the black Friday,
Then getting up, all walk to a screening hall.
Satisfied knowing each had their fill,
They take a seat and kick it; you know the drill.


Tuning in a box from between those feet,
When the day has gone the night falls without a peep.
It's off to sleep so snuggled and serene,
Drifting off with the sweet bliss of dreams.
Sleighs, bells, and sparkling dancing fire light,
Now, you look forward to another years fight.


So, nothing has been forgotten with presents,
And everywhere you go the holiday scents.
Oh, least we forgot who that One the day is for,
Off to church so He's seeing a show of piousness in the birth,
A birth asked He not be celebrated.
A hypocritical show of religious sanctimonious devotion,
Now you can feel right with all in this world.


Oh wait!
Something has been missed.
Not a something which is easy to placate but a someone,
The ones, you know, you'd like to forget and always turn from.
Those on the streets who ask for money and receive get a job you dead-beat,
Walking a street and only seeking to eat.
Instead, eat from trash in back of some eatery,
Or, for a child, an unwrapped gift from where they sleep.
No time for gifts that keep on giving,
Only the day-to-day daily living.
The one's in the streets, for them, new years dawning never comes,
Forgotten shuffled and shuttered away.
Maybe tomorrow there'll be something to eat,
Or perhaps they'll be a place to sleep with heat.

By, Sheilah Say
November 9, 2023