Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland are gone

So are Santa Claus and the Land of Oz

And all of my boyhood dreams.

Just watched Rudolph again

The adults were all complicit in destroying

That young bright queer Reindeer’s dreams.

Donner was a narcissist, Comet a grown bully

Rudolph had to leave and grow up on his own in a hurry

As a boy, the island of Misfit Toys seemed a dream

At least there, if you were odd

No one thought it obscene.

Snow had to be forced into the South for belief in Santa Claus

One more metaphor

It takes a miracle for some to be kind.

I can no longer wait for miracles

My childhood is long past

What are you all waiting for?

Santa lives in us all

As long as love can last

Why is kindness so very hard

Is love really past?