History of Sorts

This season comes with lights aglow,
With songs the world expects to sing,
Yet some hearts walk a quieter road,
Still holding echoes of everything.

The chair is empty, the voice is gone,
The laughter lives in memory’s air,
And every ritual carries a name
You still, instinctively, look for there.

If joy feels distant, you need not pretend.
If tears arrive, let them stay.
Love does not vanish with passing time—
It simply learns a different way.

Christmas is not only bright and loud;
It also honors the unseen,
The bonds that outlast absence,
The spaces where love has been.

So be gentle with yourself today.
Carry what you can, set down the rest.
Those you miss are not far away—
They live where your heart remembers best.

And if all you do is breathe and endure,
That is enough, that is brave, that is true.
Peace does not always come wrapped in joy;
Sometimes it comes in making it through.