Christmas Duet

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h4>A CHRISTMAS DUET.</h4> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <div class="i0"><div class="dropcap">O,</div> CHRISTMAS comes but once a year!</div> <div class="i2">(<em>And even that is once too many;</em>)</div> <div class="i0">Hurrah for all its right good cheer!</div> <div class="i2">(<em>I wish I had my share of any!</em>)</div> <div class="i0">What flavour of the good old times!</div> <div class="i2">(<em>What hopeless and egregious folly!</em>)</div> <div class="i0">What evergreens and merry chimes!</div> <div class="i2">(<em>What prickles ever lurk in holly!</em>)</div> </div><div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Indeed it is a merry time;</div> <div class="i2">(<em>But O! those countless Christmas numbers!</em>)</div> <div class="i0">For now we see the pantomime,</div> <div class="i2">(<em>And now the waits disturb our slumbers.</em>)</div> <div class="i0">We've kisses 'neath the mistletoe&mdash;</div> <div class="i2">(<em>I hate such rough, unseemly capers!</em>)</div> <div class="i0">And hearty welcomes, frost and snow;</div> <div class="i2">(<em>Yes, in the illustrated papers.</em>)</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Around the groaning Christmas board,</div> <div class="i2">(<em>Which never equals expectations,</em>)</div> <div class="i0">Where old and young are in accord&mdash;</div> <div class="i2">(<em>I hate the most of my relations!</em>)</div> <div class="i0">I view the turkey with delight,</div> <div class="i2">(<em>A tough old bird beyond all question!</em>)</div> <div class="i0">The blazing pudding&mdash;what a sight!</div> <div class="i2">(<em>'Tis concentrated indigestion!</em>)</div> </div><div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Laugh on, ye merry girls and boys!</div> <div class="i2">(<em>Each year the Christmas boxes strengthen,</em>)</div> <div class="i0">Each year brings with it countless joys;</div> <div class="i2">(<em>The Christmas bills each year they lengthen.</em>)</div> <div class="i0">To all we pledge the brimming glass!</div> <div class="i2">(<em>What days of gorging and unreason!</em>)</div> <div class="i0">Too quick such merry moments pass&mdash;</div> <div class="i2">(<em>Why can't we skip the "festive season"?</em>)</div> </div></div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />