Poem: “Twelfth Night” by Phyllis McGinley

 Down from the window take the withered holly,

Feed the torn tissue to the literal blaze.

Now, now at last come the melancholy

Anticlimactic days.

 

Here in the light of morning, hard, unvarnished,

Let us with haste dismantle the tired tree

Of ornaments, a trifle chipped and tarnished,

Pretend we do not see.

 

How all the rooms seem shabbier and meaner

And the tired house a little less than snug.

Fold up the tinsel. Run the vacuum cleaner

Over the littered rug.

 

Nothing is left. The postman passes by, now,

Bearing no gifts, no kind or seasonal word.

The icebox yields no wing, no nibbled thigh, now, 

From any holiday bird.

 

Sharp in the streets the north wind plagues its betters

While Christmas snow to gutters is consigned.

Nothing remains except the thank-you letters,

Most tedious to the mind,

 

And the gift gadget (duplicated) which is 

Marked for exchange at Abercrombie-Fitch’s.