COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 70, 15 December 1933, Page 7 (Supplement)

COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON

The Bard (hopefully) Since this is Christmas Eve, ,'my Muse, ■ a time of much festivity, Can you suggest a topic for a modest spot of verse? And kindly make it snappy, Miss, retraining your proclivity To hackneyed themes that any sort of rhymester might rehearse. The Muse (rather coldly): — I see. Unlike the Christmas bards who constantly repeat themselves. You want to give your customers fl fresher sort of brew. ■» Well, what about a warning that they should not over-eat themselves, Advice not only sensible but seasonable, too? The Bard (crossly):— And do you think my customers are given, then, to gluttony? Or do you think my name is now Sir Thingumbobby Lane? If I may say so, Miss, your mind grows asinine and muttony— Don't let me hear such utterly absurd advice again. The Muse:— All right—since you receive my hints with rudeness and ingratitude, Wish ’em a Merry Christmas, Boy, and let it go at that! The Bard:— I think I might do vastly worse—a fig for ingenuity! The Muse:— For Christmas use I never thought its prospects were too bright. .The Bard:— To judge by your examples it results in sheer fatuity— Come, let as have a final stave to get the matter right! Both:— So here without compunction we unblushingly reiterate A theme already rendered in a thousand earlier rhymes— A Happy Christmas to you all! —and may it now obliterate All problems and perplexities that thrive at other times! Forget, forget all sorts of things that tend to dumps and dreariness, The mix-up and the messiness, the long, unlovely grind, And concentrate instead on Christmas rest-fulness and diceriness, With all the normal muddle for a moment left behind! —Lucio, in “The Manchester Guardian.”