Festive Nightmare

Festive Nightmare

'Tis the season for palpitations

More so this year than ever before

Money is tighter than I could have ever dreamed

Yet expectations have not decreased accordingly.

I love the festivity, the colors, the flavors,

Previously restricted but never like this

A meager onlooker wistful, wanting,

Hans Christian Andersen springs to mind

The little match girl in the snow

I try the breathing exercises

But my throat remains constricted,

My screams are inwards and silent

My face determined to conceal

Breathe, breathe, and breathe,

Tinsel induced heart attack.