A Lifetime of Christmas Poetry
My mom, Raynette Forister Eitel, passed away in September of 2022, age 85, drifting away into dementia. It was tragic to watch this woman who loved words, who was a poet and teacher, fade away into wordlessness after a lifetime of crafting poetry.
Mom had a tradition of writing a new Christmas poem each year and sending it to friends and relatives. The mailing list grew each year, and people always told us they looked forward to mom’s Christmas poems. She published some in a couple little books. There are too many to post just once a day during the month of December, but I’ll choose some of the best.
Christmas, Downside
by Raynette Eitel
Children are starving in this plum-pudding world
And on this Peace-on-Earth planet,
Wars are raged on men by men.
Christmas lights twinkle
While poor souls search the darkness.
My tinsel days have lost their luster.
I wonder which shepherd or king could have guessed
The innocent Babe would grow up to say,
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Writing Rhetorically 