Avalon
and even though
the red
of Christmas is gone
and the twinkle lights
went dark
and the trees all went
back in the box
or thrown out
to the street
and all the gifts are opened
and closed
like the year turned over
in memory
staring out
a lone winter window
at a field of gray sticks
their branches still strung
in drops that glisten
there was this gift
unopened
an ornament left
out on a limb
shining bright and round and
red
TL