I wrote this last year, as you can see from the date, but I just thought I’d post it today. Still relevant …
STILL MAGICAL …
It must have been August, I saw the first cards
The perfect excuse? This year has been hard.
But summer’s not over, yet winter’s begun
What happened to waiting for good things to come?
This year has been awful, the stress hard to bear
COVID and lockdown, isolation and despair.
Something to look forward to, that’s what we need
But Christmas means December, don’t spoil it, I plead.
Once it was magical, a time to wish, to dream
Families all together, so simple, no extremes.
The glistening lights, the smell of the tree and presents all around
I still remember, always will, every sight and every sound.
But the years have gone, nothing stays the same
Turbo-charged by technology, the once gentle life has been claimed.
Broken families, too much work, no time and no money
Christmas? Oh, help! It’s really not funny.
It started in August, the build-up, that is
The year, it was taken, start making that list.
No, is the answer, four months in advance?
There’s COVID, there’s lockdown, no energy to dance!
COVID is going nowhere, there is no room for cheer
You can’t do this, you can’t do that and don’t forget to fear.
Tempers are frayed as tiredness abounds; darkness is unrelenting
It’ll never get done, I’ve run out of steam; pass the gin, I’m dissenting
Once I believed in Santa, that it would all fall into place
But that was then and this is now, he’s gone and so’s my faith.
Or is it? Listen! I love this song, it takes me right back when
Two little boys had two little toys and I’m a child again
The magic is in the music, the songs which transport you back
To fairy lights, snow and gentler times when nothing did we lack.
Noddy shouts ‘It’s Christmas!’ and, suddenly, the world is alight
For it’s the memories which sustain you, make everything alright.
So, Christmas is still magical, close your eyes and you will hear
‘Merry Christmas, war is over’, it’s the end of a horrible year.
The sleigh bells, they are jingling, the song I hold so dear
Wham, ‘Last Christmas”, I give you my heart, now and for all of my years.
THE. END
A Voice Outwith the Crowd
December 2020
