Holiday Tears
by Jonas Hyde

Eyes open,
as if a rising sun,
over a horizon of anguish,
of sorrow.

“Daughter do not frown,
for on this day
the family is as one,”
he whispers softly.

“But father I weep,
I cry,
not for the moment I have,
but for the time when it will surely end.”

And so it goes,
the conversation once more,
as it always has before,
truth rarely spoken.

The snow has fallen,
and gifts are done,
but the scene is far from idyllic,
framed within the pain of our lives.

Holiday’s eve brought with it,
hurt,
anger,
as every night ‘fore

So I hold her close,
my arms wrapping her
in a paternal blanket woven for a lifetime,
of warmth and protection.

Together we pose,
heads behind the masques of seasonal cheer
hiding simply,
our holiday tears.