Merry Christmas, we meet again, Herr Claus,
exactly when we first met, I forget,
remind me why you appeared to a child,
restless with insomnia, I awoke
yesterday before midnight to sleigh bells,
Christ, that was over forty years ago,
how you landed on our rooftop and snow,
real snow in Huntington Beach fell on me,
in a flash, I went to take your photo,
somehow, you had already taken flight,
took off before I could get a picture,
mercy me, how no one believed a word,
ask my older brother who remembers
sounds in his dreams of our dad on the roof.
Now, we meet again, here in Chicago,
on Madison and State Street, at Zumiez,
winter came early this year, bitter cold.
Kill the lights, it's too bright to make a deal,
in the dark, with the ambient city
lights, we can still see, as if by the stars,
left helpless and bleeding in the alley.
Maybe I was wrong about you, killer,
even the best men need an alibi.
Please tell me what I did wrong in this life,
let me know, before I die, how I wronged
everyone I ever met by being
a dishonest boy and a crooked man,
simply tell me when and where I went wrong,
even the condemned have a right to know.
Santa, why did you leave me there, bleeding,
asking anyone who could hear for help,
nobody came, it was too cold, the ice
trickles through the veins of Sweet Chicago,
ask me how I died, Santa Claus stabbed me.
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