To My Children at Christmas by James Hannon

                    Martin Brigden CC

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​To My Children at Christmas
 
For Christmas this year
I am giving you
my heart.
Besides you and your mother
it is my only treasure.
Inside is all I have felt
and learned from standing
outside and knocking on doors
that would not
or could not
open.
That was pain
but it’s all right now.
I understand
and I hope you will too.

It helps to remember
that sometimes
we are the ones inside
unable to open the door.
 
You’ll probably think this is corny
but I can live with that.
I thought about socks
again
this year
but I figure you have enough.


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I've been an addiction therapist for twenty years and have worked in hospitals, prisons, methadone clinics and now in private practice.  I've seen a lot of people get sober and experience a life second to none, as I have.  I've also seen some of the loveliest young people I've ever met die from opioid overdoses. They sometimes visit a space between my fourth and fifth ribs.  It feels sad when they come but I don't want them to stop.

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