Love, oh my love, you left me defenseless; no gods above, no miracle on Christmas. . Memories of you slip through my fingers: they leave me too; melancholy lingers. The protective veil I weaved from our past threatens to fail, flags at half-mast. Transparent and frail like a plastic bag; a soundless wail, a threadbare rag. . My anemic hope, my castle of denial - a thinning rope, dusk to a sundial. . And there are days when I surface - gasp for air and scour for land - till the waves pull me in the blackness, back to the despair I understand. . And you won't read this one, this one will stay at the bottom of an ocean, out of your way. .