Yuletide

by Romain P. A. Delpeuch (June 2023)

Small Village in the Snow, Roger Hebbelinck after Valerius de Saedeleer, 1930s

I’m all alone on Christmas Eve,
and only crows and the cold air,
and maybe memories, believe
that bygone years ignored despair.
Enclosed in bubbles white of lies
and fallen prey to prying eyes,
our senses doubted, yet we knew.
Letting them double down on madness
and froth ferociously, and spew
(or simply dribble) poison—sadness
adorned in fake and hollow joy
(although a plainly laid decoy
for people willing to embrace
the crude reality), we failed.
They won, inhibitors of grace.
Nothing is permanent. All’s nailed.

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Romain P. A. Delpeuch is the author of Hypnagogia (Terror House Press, 2023). His poetry and short fiction appear in New English Review, Terror House Magazine, Apocalypse Confidential, Ekstasis, D.F.L. Lit, JOURN-E (vol. 1, no. 2), Atop The Cliffs and The Decadent Review.

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