Survivor of Christmas here :-D

I do love Christmas. I don't mean the over-full present-buying frenzy that takes over even the least materialistic of us. I mean the intention of relaxation, love full  days with those we cherish. And want to spend time with. For many of us duty has to take precedence of course, at least for a little while over the season and there's nothing wrong with that. After all this isn't a season which purports to be selfish. And surely often the giving of our time even to those we'd rather not is all part of the parcel, no matter how it's wrapped.

I'm lucky I do get to spend real time with lovely loving people and for that I'm very grateful. This poem came out of a beginning about being stretched thin by others' expectations and became a poem (as all mine seem to at the moment) about love. 

GUM

I was stretched, 

like gum pulled thin,

two thumbs pressed

at either end

of a chewed up piece

and pulled until a string formed

between two opposing wills.

The taut fragile line

folded up, 

slung low under a full belly

and an even fuller moon.

You pulled me apart,

snapped past my elastic limit,

in a night drenched garden

under an alcove built especially for two.

Us two, in fact -

you with your hollow rimmed edge 

and me,

exploring what your mind meant 

when it spoke of love.

For your frilly words filled a tiny pocket

in the smallest part of my heart

and as my blood pulsed through it, 

it whispered of a start.