The Christmas Gift Poem by David Lewis Paget

‘It won't be much of a Christmas, '
I said to his woman, Kate,
As she met me in the garden,
And opened the garden gate,
I asked how well he was faring
And she answered, ‘Not too well, '
Her eyes were blackened for lack of sleep
She looked like she'd been through hell.

While George lay out on a camper
Trying to get some air,
His lungs were riddled with cancer,
He said that he didn't care.
‘I've had enough of this rotten life
It threw me a sucker punch,
I'll just be glad when it's over, mate,
Just think of me out to lunch.'

I couldn't say he'd get over it,
He'd catch me out in a lie,
The one thing both of us knew right then
Was George was about to die,
They'd given him just a week or so
Till his organs began to fail,
He might just make it to Christmas, but
That was the end of the tale.

But Kate was doing just what she could
To comfort his final days,
She'd come across to his neighbourhood,
And when Kate decides, she stays,
They hadn't ever been love's young dream
Had parted the year before,
For George was always intolerable
Living with him was war.

And I would try to avert my eyes,
Whenever Kate was around,
I didn't want her to see me blush
So kept my eyes to the ground,
If only I had got to her first
I'd say to my mirror glass,
But far too late, she was with my mate,
He was way beneath her class.

And even though they had parted,
I couldn't begin to tell,
My feelings, how they were started
By being within her spell,
For she'd always been his woman,
Been his lover and his mate,
And even now they were parted,
I thought it a little late.

But he called me into the garden
To sit by his camper bed,
And said that he begged my pardon,
He knew he would soon be dead.
‘But I have a gift to give you,
It might be a little late,
But at Christmas time I wish you
Would take care of my darling Kate.'

‘I know that you care about her,
For I've seen you blushing and stare,
It's a year I've been without her,
Due to my lack of care,
But I think she'll come to love you,
You can ask yourself instead, '
For Kate was there in the garden,
And stood there, nodding her head.

21 December 2016