Share

A Child’s Christmas in Allston

By: - Dec 23, 2019

A Child’s Christmas in Allston

After the war
By then I was six
The house in Allston
With a wraparound porch
Huge back yard
Tiffany chandelier
Over dining room table
88 Gardner Street
The drive from Brookline
In Dad’s Cadillac
Always a convertible
On Christmas morning
Tree stuck in bucket of coal
Lights strung round
Then a novelty
Improvement over candles
Many a house burned down
Flickering cheer
When one dimmed  they all did
Trying to replace that bulb
Game of hide and seek
Not like ours on Beacon Street
Lights improved on bigger tree
Size mattered to me
One of many competitions
Growing up rich and absurd
Taught by  nuns
Praying for prosperity
After years of rations
Those Spam dinners
Out of the can
Pretending to be ham
Now turkey on the table
Arriving after church
Roasted plump and brown
Family gathered round
Grandad presiding
Puffing at his pipe
Women in the kitchen
Bringing out the feast
Dad, Doc to the clan
A maestro carved
With surgical bravado
The kid got a leg
Chomped like a caveman
Sullivans lived upstairs
With firstborn Susan
Snuggled in a crib
Home from the war
Uncles safe and sound
All gathered round
With prayers for peace
When America was great
So long and far ago