, . Cnnstmas 1950
Buis and children innocent as carols Formulate with ease an old enchantment And we remember, not events, but memories Of a white and beautiful festival Whose origin is buried deep beneath Innumerable Decembers and despairs ; Buried beneath the invoked snow on which The dark green trees with jewels in their hair Paint shadowy pagodas, and is hidden Behind the vivid facades of the stores, Disguised in woolly beards and bright, red robes Neglected in the stockings' network toes With the wooden whistles and the mute books Which are ignored because of splendid gifts But might give solace when the future proves The treachery beneath the paint and gloss Whose annual love dissembles leaving only The echoes Of the crackers' tiny angers.
VERNON SCANNELL.
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