Four Days after Christmas

Only four days, but already
It seems so far away.

Christmas day passed like a signpost
Along a road to I’m-not-sure-where.

I accelerate, and the heat of regret melts
The snow along the side of the road.

I only see the precipice of memory
In my rearview mirror.

My parents and my childhood, gone
Ever so long ago.

—Mike Fitzgerald

December 29, 2009