Christmas Yearnings: A Poem by William Stroud

Christmas Yearnings

I have lived a gypsy life

Of here and there and seldom twice.

Across high peaks and valleys wide

Over beaches washed by tides.

I’ve made fast friends in my sojourns

And for you all my heart still yearns.

With mellow yearnings, windy swirls

As the past around me curls.

And oh my family, oh my friends,

I long to find you once again

Across the oceans’ great divides

You come to me on rising tides

And whisper softly what was then

Of times and places that have been.

Though some have passed and some remain

All together once again.

                        ---William Stroud, Christmas 2019