Santa Died Today

A brief introduction to this poem. The Santa referred to here was a friend to me on Facebook, we never met but it is possible to feel a closeness to a person you have shared histories, sadness, and laughter with even if from a distance and for many years. A retired schoolteacher, every year he would look forward to becoming Santa for the children where he lived. It was his brother, also my friend, who posted the news of his passing, and I will deeply miss his daily back-and-forth post with me, he made my solitary life far more bearable than it would have been, and his leaving has made it lonelier.

Santa Died Today

It hurt me more than I knew it would.
When I heard his brother say
The big guy in the bright red suit
Santa died today.

Not the Santa of dreams and lore
But as real as the canes in the candy store
And each year he’d wear the silly suit.
But the beard and hair were from the roots.

Roots of a life well lived.
White as the snow on chimney tops
He never forgot the inner kid.
His love for life never stopped.

I lost one Santa as a youth.
Overhearing whispered truth
And again, it hurts to hear them say.
I’m sorry Santa died today.