Out in the cold, the contents of a house:
Carpets, lamps and bedsteads, kitchen range,
Holiday litter, bells and tinsel. Strange,
As if a huge hand lifting the residence
Shook it above the street while fingers probed
Corners and closets looking for evidence,
Clues among new clothes, toys, books unread
And games the children scarcely learned to play.
Who lived here last year, only yesterday?
Cardboard Santa and the Three Wise Men
Pause over the lintel to watch a star
Wink through a flawed cloud. Lost again.
:,
Somewhere tonight a child is being told
There will be a better home for him
the new year, a warm bed and fresh linen,
Constant love, and new toys for the old.