For the Man Who Has Everything
December 19, 2014
ALL THE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
— By Phyllis McGinley
What shall my true love
Have from me
To pleasure his Christmas
Wealthily?
The partridge has flown
From our pear tree.
Flown with our summers
Are the swans and the geese.
Milkmaids and drummers
Would leave him little peace.
I’ve no gold ring
And no turtle dove,
So what can I bring to my true love?
A coat for the drizzle
Chosen at the store;
A saw and a chisel
For mending the door;
A pair of red slippers
To slip on his feet;
Three striped neckties;
Something sweet.
He shall have all
I can best afford —
No pipers piping,
No leaping lord,
But a fine fat hen
For his Christmas board;
Two pretty daughters
(Versed in the role)
To be worm like pinks
In his button hole;
And the tree of my heart
With its calling linnet —
My evergreen heart
And the bright bird in it.
— Comments —
William T. writes:
I’m not sure if you put the same stock in synchronicity that the late Mr. Auster did, but when I read this poem on your blog — ending with “My evergreen heart / And the bright bird in it” — I had just been humming to myself the Thy Might Be Giants song “Birdhouse In Your Soul.”
