CHRISTMAS POEM 2017

by Rachel Hughes

'I'll have one. Then just another...

'Oh, go on then! It's Christmas time, brother!'

A couple of shots, a few more pints.

'I'm not paying for a taxi...I'll be all right!'

'I'll be home soon, love!' - She's asking again.

'I ain't walking, it's started to rain...'

Laughing and joking, the time passes by,

Enjoying the company stood by your side.

'I really  must go now; my tea's in the dog!

And it's been a few hours since I finished my job.'

As wobbly legs take this Human across the road,

It tells itself it's in 'driveable mode'.

Key's in the starter, the mirror's in view.

'I'm on my way home love! I love you, I do!'

Driving along with thoughts of its bed,

The drunk-driving human hits a tree up ahead.

A knock on the door wakes the family inside.

Tears start to fall from the loved ones' eyes;

'How has this happened? I can't believe...

'Why would our loved one decide to leave?'

An individual's act; a choice that was made,

Another human life that could have been saved...

Think of the others you'd leave behind,

At any time of year, not just Christmas time.

©Rachel Hughes, November 2015

(reproduced with permission)

Editor's note: We thought this excellent poem by Rachel Hughes deserved as wide an audience as possible, partly because of the time of year, and partly because of the powerful writing and the message it gets across. A message which can't be repeated too often. It first appeared on the Middlewich Community Group on Facebook - DR