Oh My Golly So Jolly

I never knew that Stonehenge refers to hanging gallows While solstice gives solace as the sun dial moves forth Many years of mysteries immortalized for sacred worship Blue Stones transported from Pembrokeshire For a giant Cromlech by magic or very hard graft Pagans knew about meaning and witches were good folks And sometimes you still see them flying in Salisbury Plain Sounds of yesteryear swish by and touch every heart Unhinged at times but always voiced crystal clear Not far from here Father Christmas is stuck in a blazing chimney And the Fire Brigade rescue tradition and the Feast of Love A lonely cross dances with a snowman's carrot Spared from an opulent meal on turning tables Nostalgic Vinyls recording mist up children's gleaming eyes As one of them takes aim at ornaments with a slingshot Another one bites the dust and misses the manger Mary remains immaculate but an angel falls dead A renegade father nestles ammunition belts like prayer beads 'Have to go with the times for Bethlehem's changed meaning' Another burp and space resumes for more turkey 'Can't stand it three days in a row and no lamb in sight' Mum is a feminist and reads Beauvoir to three Holy Kings A Kafkaesque scene ensues as reindeer meta-morph into beetles At least the little daughter cuddles Joseph the cat Who proceeds to climb faux fur with irreverent purring In his rocking chair Grandpa is unperturbed and turns the table With a remote control for a play station and thus he creates a Different nativity scene for heretics and believers in plain Sight as he caresses the Family Bible submerged under wrappers Grandma has been 'blessed' with dementia and thinks it is Easter For her Santa's beard looks like Rapunzel's hair covered in snow flakes She rubs Pinocchio's nose which sticks out like tinsel on respite As she is spoon fed mashed potato and gravy with cranberry sauce While the adults get drunk on canned laughter from Pandora's box And the family dog barks at the wrong tree before piddling at roots The new born baby sleeps blissfully oblivious to the fuss Maybe there was too much mulled wine in the breast milk The pastor recommends faithfully 'Do as I say and not as I do' and the Little Drummer Boy sings along to prepubescent choir's young voices Pitched high in false falsetto in unshaken belief of their talent but Then Christmas is not about perfection and the show must go on 25th December 2019