POETRY SPOT

Along by Merry Christmas Time

      — Henry Lawson (1913)

Along by merry Christmas time they buy the aged goose,

And boil the dread plum pudding, because of ancient use.

But to sneer at old time customs would be nothing but a crime,|

For the memory of the Past is all bound up in Christmas time.

Then Jim comes home from shearing, and he puts a few away,

With Dad, perhaps, or Uncle, but they’re right on Christmas Day:

For be it on the Never, or ‘neath the church bells’ chime,

The family gets together, if they can, at Christmas time.

And, after tea at Christmas, they clear the things away

And play the dear old silly games our grand-folk used to play

And Dad gives a recitation that used to be the joy

Of all the Western countryside, when Father was a boy.

Along by merry Christmas time, and ere the week is o’er

We meet and fix up quarrels that each was sorry for.

Our hearts are filled with kindness and forgiveness sublime,

For no one knows where one may be next merry Christmas time.