Don't wrap up pretty presents
To place beneath this tiny tree.
Spend your money on your children
Rather than waste it on me.
I really do have all I need…
Not one thing do I require.
I’d much prefer your company
And your love's all I desire.
Gifts I need, department stores
Don't keep upon their shelves.
Gifts that come straight from the heart
Are the giving of ourselves.
A smile…a hug…a cheerful word…
Kiss on a weathered brow...
A pat upon a wrinkled hand
Are all that I need now.
Yes, I do realize the season
Has so much for you to do…
Yet my Christmas wish is just to spend
A little family time with you.
It gets lonely in this nursing home
Although I'm never left alone.
I miss the church... the neighborhood...
Conversations on the phone...
Just some small talk over coffee…
Recalling Christmases gone by
And when I speak of how it was
Well, I will try hard not to cry.
I don’t want you feeling guilty…
Just need you to understand
That my days on earth are growing short
And my tomorrows can't be planned.
So don’t bring me any store bought gifts…
They’re not on my Christmas list.
Just spend a little time with me
And make this Christmas all I've wished.
Doris Jacobs-Covington
Christmas 2013
~~Dedicated to Hue Art~~
(who has a giving heart)
~~AUTHOR"S NOTE~~
The saddest places to visit are nursing homes...
and especially during the Christmas season when
children and loved ones are so busy that they don't
take the time to visit their aged and ailing parents.
I've joined church groups who've asked me to read
poetry to the residents...and I've shared the love of
Jesus staring into eyes which would fill with tears
and break my heart...and I've heard the loneliness
expressed...thus this poem.
Leviticus 19:32
'Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect
for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD.'
Proverbs 22:23
listen to your father, who gave you life,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.
Exodus 20:12
Honor your father and your mother, so that you
may live long in the land the lord your god is giving you."