“Christmas Comes but Once a Year”
(As Swinburne might treat it.)
As a day that dawns when the dark is dimmer,
Sodden and sad as a sunless sea,
Gray and green as a glaring glimmer,
Burnished and bright in its gilded glee.
Gone the guerdon and gone the glories,
Dead or ever the day was born—
Dead as a devilish dove, Dolores,
Mother of misery, made to mourn!
Sodden and sad as a sunless sea,
Gray and green as a glaring glimmer,
Burnished and bright in its gilded glee.
Gone the guerdon and gone the glories,
Dead or ever the day was born—
Dead as a devilish dove, Dolores,
Mother of misery, made to mourn!
Thou hast bared thy breast to the boreal breezes
Sibilant, stark, as the soul of sin,
Chill and cheap as a Cheshire cheese is,
Gloriously glad as an elinorglyn!
Winds that whimper and winds that whistle
Faster far than the phantom of fear.
O Dolores, the toe of mistle!
Christmas comes! and but once a year.
Sibilant, stark, as the soul of sin,
Chill and cheap as a Cheshire cheese is,
Gloriously glad as an elinorglyn!
Winds that whimper and winds that whistle
Faster far than the phantom of fear.
O Dolores, the toe of mistle!
Christmas comes! and but once a year.
113
