bright_lights tender_square a firetruck parked at the entrance, siren silenced, red strobe slicing night while families frolicked. in jackson park, couples dressed in matching hats and plaid thermals, holding mittens and giggling over private jokes. kids roared and ran along the paths like bundled marshmallows, churros in hand, parents calling out their names. i stopped mid-stride as people posed for selfies under lighted archways of mauve and gold, between blinding displays of "peace" and "love," inside the led confines of ornaments and presents. britney_spears' blasted whine about being alone for christmas was inescapable. i sat on an alcove bench, sipping hot chocolate that tasted like chai, sugar turning fuzzy against cold teeth. a thirty-foot tree stood stately before me, lights of blood and bone coordinated with beats and breaks. a part of me is dying with the onset of winter's darkness, my heart a warning that spills into nightfall. 221210 what's it to you? who go blather from