CHRISTMAS CACTUS

 

The Christmas cactus

The winter-bloomer

Its jointed flat segments

Look like experiments

Made by a young boy

With a construction set toy

But the rose-purple flowers

Light up the winter hours

WINTER SCENE

 

Winter seen through

Frosted glass,

With picture windows

Sugar-framed

IT’S SUCH A MILD CHRISTMAS

 

It’s such a mild Christmas

All the birds are singing noisily

Normally in December

They’re all frozen to a tree

FLAKES OF WHITE

 

Dancing on the breeze

Crystal flakes of white

Tell the winter tale

FATHER FROST

 

Father Frost, with icy fingers

Holds winter in his frozen grasp

And spreads it wide across the land

Till it wears his thick winter cloak

IN THE BLEAK MID WINTER

 

I’m not looking for a white Christmas

For my life is already a cold place

Bleak and forbidding

So I have no need of snow

Carpets of white everywhere

Winter fills my every day

My life is perpetual winter

Because you have taken my warmth

You were the heart of me

You sent the blood coursing through me

You were the sun in my sky

Now my life is tundra

And I am just a frozen husk

To numb to exist

IF DECEMBER ICE

 

If December ice will bear a duck

Thereafter will be slush and muck

But grab the duck off the ice

And Christmas lunch be very nice

EVERYBODY LOVES IT

 

Everybody loves it

Even if they won’t admit it

From the newly bred

To the nearly dead

Christmas is the bee’s knees

From decorated Christmas trees

To candlelight and mistletoe

And every happy HoHoHo

Some may not agree

At least not openly

But are quite happy

To enjoy it secretly

SNOWFLAKES ON THE DAY

 

Smoke curls from the chimneys,

And dissolves into the grey

Then the clouds in exchange

Release snowflakes on the day

 

Soon the air is full of white flakes

Filtering the sounds of life away

The land is soon under deep snow

Of snowflakes released on the day

 

BUT SOFTLY THE MYRIAD SNOW FLAKES FALL

 

But softly the myriad snow flakes fall

These infinite flakes of purest white

Like pure white down of angels wings

Floating gently from heavens height

 

But this is no heaven sent delight

This thing of beauty that cruelly lingers

For harshly touched is the naked earth

When touched by winters icy fingers

SNOWMAN BLUES

 

Out of the snowy lawn

The snowman grew

Wearing a hat and scarf

The way that you do

 

With pebbles for eyes

Pressed into the snow

A smiley twig mouth

And a large carrot nose

 

He’s a magnificent site

The snowman that grew

But he’s just snow and ice

And no substitute for you

 

I wish you were here

To chase the blues away

I wish you’d come back

To me for Christmas day

IN MY BACK GARDEN DURING LAST WINTER

 

In my back garden during last Winter

I saw the strangest of things

The fattest Robin I’ve ever seen

It was like a cricket ball with wings

SOME CRUMBS OF BREAD

 

Some crumbs of bread

Some bacon rind

Perhaps some nuts

Might be kind

It’s up to you

To decide what’s best

To set upon the table

For Robin red breast

LITTLE ROBIN REDBREAST

 

“Little Robin redbreast

Where can you be?

Dear little Robin

Come and say hello to me”

 

“I can’t “says the Robin

“The winter is preventing me”

 

“Little Robin redbreast

Where can you be?

Dear little Robin

Come and say hello to me”

 

“I can’t say hello to you

Because I’m frozen to this tree”

ROBIN

 

Crimson breasted

Perching on a gate

Robin red breast

Looking for a mate

A hardy suitor

Courting and wooing

Proudly displaying

In ritual pursuing

Trying to impress

To attract a wife

So in the spring

There’d be new life

And for his efforts

Amidst winter hard

He gets to appear

On a Christmas card

NEVER EVER CATCH A SNOWFLAKE

 

Never ever catch a snowflake

In your mouth

Until you’re sure all the birds

Have flown south

FOOTSTEPS IN THE FROST

 

A beautiful winter’s morning

When mist conceals the sunrise,

And nestles between

The frosty shadows of the trees,

And footsteps crunch

Through the crystal patterns

Of the crisp hoar frost

MERRY BELLS

 

Merry Bells of Christmas

Of genus Uvularia

Whose yellow drooping

Bell-shaped flowers

Brighten the season

CHRISTMAS BELLS

Christmas bells

Of Genus Blandfordia

Orange or crimson

Whose large flowers

Brighten the season 

CHRISTMAS CACTUS

 

The Christmas cactus

The winter-bloomer

Its jointed flat segments

Look like experiments

Made by a young boy

With a construction set toy

But the rose-purple flowers

Light up the winter hours