will you send me
a cute cat in a tree
Christmas card
bought from Woolies
in a box of fifty
printed on thin paper
slightly out of focus
cheap and purply?
will you fill my stocking
with a tangerine
some wrinkled walnuts
a Matchbox hot rod car
coloured crayons
chocolate coins
a pair of silly socks
sweets and little things?
will Santa bring me
an orange Chopper bike
some Scalextric track
a new football
togs and pads
or a hamster
in a cage with straw
and running wheel?
will I sleep tonight
with eyes tight shut
sheets pulled high
night light on
in my box bedroom
with pop posters
on the yellow woodchip walls
and teddy next to me?
will the adult voices
in the hall downstairs
please quieten down
and say goodbye
to the next door neighbours
replace the tele mumble with
footsteps and secret whispers
of tipsy parents going to bed?
will Christmas ever be
as magical as this again
for when I was a 70’s child
there never was any worry for me
of buying the latest gadget technologies
from shopping centres packed with madness
or caring for our elderly parents
and getting right those turkey timings?
so will the Ghost of Christmas Past
Come in! Come in!
and know me better
now I’m a man
and look upon me
as never before
and find the boy
that lives no more?
