<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=460897" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Christmas - a despatch from the battlefield of the heart</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Christmas is a-comin’ – but<br>this goose is gettin’ thin…</div><div style="margin:10px 0">why do I feel I’m in the dock<br>of some unauthorised court of moral judgment<br>with the prospect of spending New Year<br>in some condemned cell of <br>personal opinion remarkably similar to<br>a Dickensian prison now electrified in just one wing…? </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Forget the whole giving-presents thing – that’s<br>relatively simple – it’s those bloody<br>Christmas cards. Sent yours yet? </div><div style="margin:10px 0">I’m with the angels on this one –<br>peace on earth and goodwill to all, uh, <br>persons… I’m fully paid up on<br>this one – so – can we stick with that? <br>or do we have to prove it with<br>a ready-printed message once a year? </div><div style="margin:10px 0">It’s Christmas, dammit – maybe my year-round goodwill<br>is equalled by the whole other lot of you out there? <br>in which case, can we just take that as read, <br>a universal love-in on a level playing field? </div><div style="margin:10px 0">It’s the subtext – ‘I’ve forgotten your personal existence<br>all the year, but look – Goody Two-Shoes is sending this<br>to show you up – and I’m posting it<br>so late that short of posting in the press <br>one of those announcements that say<br>‘This year Mr and Mrs Smith are sending<br>a donation to charity in place of the many Christmas cards<br>they would have sent to their many friends…’ – or<br> a postcard, <br>‘Now we’re back from our Antarctic trip, <br>Happy New Year! ’ you’re too late to reply…’<br> which means? </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Or there's the subtext<br>'We're sending you a very<br>religious card with just the faintest hint that<br>although you may not have noticed it<br>when we had that blazing row<br>across the fence which has<br>simmered on all year, nevertheless<br>we're really more - well, everything -<br>than you bastards - however<br>this puts us, spiritually, <br>one up...'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">‘Darling, Christmas cards – who sent us one<br>last year? ’ – say no more…</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Would<br>‘No, we hadn’t quite forgotten you<br>in case you thought we had, and<br>I bet it’s mutual? ’ cards, tastefully<br>designed, be more fun? or</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Why should we even know your<br>name and address if we<br>hadn't once thought you worth loving and<br>if so, why should that change? '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I reckon one acid test for those you love<br>is, only think of sending cards to<br>those you’d think of phoning on<br>Christmas Eve or Christmas Day – and then, <br>do just that – no need to send a card as well? </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Oh well, any excuse to say, I love you.. especially<br>if we mean it...</div><div style="margin:10px 0">so, anyone who reads this (apart from those<br>who only read to check whether they’d<br>sent us one too) –</div><div style="margin:10px 0">If an individual can claim to share<br>that universal love which, do we need reminding, <br>should live our lives for us all the year round, <br>please feel my universal love<br>blazing, blazing, towards you…</div><div style="margin:10px 0">…‘what’s that, darling? Oh yes, I suppose<br>we’d better send them one, in case<br>they think we’d forgotten them… which evidently<br>we had, hadn’t we…? ’</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Have a happy holiday and<br>a loving New Year full of peace</div><div style="margin:10px 0">No really I mean it</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Michael+Shepherd">Michael Shepherd</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=460897" data-title="Christmas - a despatch from the battlefield of the heart de Michael Shepherd" data-description="Christmas is a-comin’ – but this goose is gettin’ thin… why do I feel I’m in the dock of some unauthorised court of moral judgment with the prospect of spending New Year in some condemned cell of personal opinion remarkably similar to ..."></div> </div> </div>

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