If I Could Go Back

Christmas memories

Dec 24, 2025

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IF I COULD GO BACK

If I could go back and wake the dead
On this joyous Christmas morn
I’d use the muscles of Hercules
To rouse them from their sleep.

My little sister gone so long
With all her children here
A reunion at the table, a raucous jubilee 
With tears and laughter around the tree.

We’d turn the lights down low.
My mother with her camera
Would ask us all to pose.

My father with his tool belt
His favorite yuletide gift
Would make the repairs needed 
Over many missing years.

My grandmother would cook the meal
My grandfather would carve
No empty chairs at the table
Would remind us who was gone.

Aunts and uncles would join the fray
Exchanging heavenly gifts
Manufactured by the angels
For those who have moved on.

The ancestors will sing in languages now gone
Stiff Italian marches, Hungarian folk songs
If I could bring them back again
I’d rejoice with exultation
To hold them in my arms.