Season's Greetings

Lines for a Christmas card courtesy of well-known poets

God bless thee all this yuletide

With plenteous ale, and meat,

And may thy kinsfolk far and near

Be filled this day with festive cheer

But wise in what they eat.

.

For one there was who had to bear

A bird slung round his neck;

A soul alone with none to care,

Adrift in weathers foul and fair

With water, water everywhere

Around that godless deck.

But less of him! His tale must cease.

On thee God lavish joy and peace

By Him who bore the cross.

But, prithee, feast on fattened geese

And spare the albatross!

(Samuel Taylor Coleridge)