Wednesday, December 02, 2015

A Holiday Song?

A HOLIDAY SONG?
(by Mark Travis Riggs, with apologies to Rodgers & Hammerstein)

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens.
But for the mittens (used all winter long)
Why is this even a holiday song?

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels,
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles,
Brown paper packages (brown paper: wrong)...
Why is this even a holiday song?

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,
Sleigh bells and snowflakes--okay, they belong,
But this still isn’t a holiday song.

Not to cause fights—I’m just seeing
If you think it’s bad.
When I hear this song at some holiday thing,
It makes me confused and mad.

Frost-painted windows, small sleigh bells on kittens,
Bright shiny ornaments, warm woolen mittens,
Tall evergreens covered in lights that blink:
This sounds like a Christmas song, don’t you think?

Crisp sugar cookies and butter cream icing,
Chocolate and mint smells you find so enticing,
Plate of those cookies with milk by the fire:
A Christmas song worthy of any choir.

Girls in green dresses with red velvet sashes,
Boot prints on floors, made from fireplace ashes,
Silver white wintertime Christmas Eve snow:
This is a song for a Christmastime show.

Sleigh bells, snowflakes, shoddy wrappings,
They just seem a tad
Ridiculous next to non-holiday things,
But this version makes me glad.