Christmas ’79 – 5th December 2025

Hasn’t he grown?

Indeed, he has

For it has been six months

Since I was last seen

And although it feels

Like a lifetime as a child

To an adult, it is but

A blink of an eye

For now, it is not

Inappropriate to hide in a bush

So let’s go outside

And count to one hundred

As one of us looks

For the others

We are all spread out

Over the country, street

And table, but we are

Brought back together

By a mother and grandmother

One and the same who

Was there when it started

And will always remain

I mine my past for these poems but it is hard not to become melancholic at times, especially when revisiting childhood.

© John Monaghan 2025. All Rights Reserved