(no subject)

[kbk]

Room somewhat tidied, a couple of presents left to wrap, and a bag to pack; tomorrow I go north, to my sister's. I thought it was by train, but it turns out paternal is driving me and assorted presents. *shrugs* I pretty much failed at presents, myself; not that anyone will really mind, but still... Blah, anyway.



Cat in the Manger

In the story, I'm not there.
Ox and ass, arranged at prayer:
But me? Nowhere.

Anti-cat evangelists
How on earth could you have missed
Such an obvious and able
Occupant of any stable?

Who excluded mouse and rat?
The harmless necessary cat.
Who snuggled in with the holy pair?
Me. And my purr.

Matthew, Mark and Luke and John
(Who got it wrong,
Who left out the cat)
Remember that,
Wherever He went in this great affair,
I was there.


The Wicked Fairy at the Manger

My gift for the child:

No wife, kids, home;
No money sense. Unemployable.
Friends, yes. But the wrong sort -
The workshy, women, wogs,
Petty infringers of the law, persons
With notifiable diseases,
Poll tax collectors, tarts;
The bottom rung.
His end?
I think we'll make it
Public, prolonged, painful.

Right, said the baby. That was roughly
What we had in mind.


[copied out of Safe as Houses, Poems by U.A. Fanthorpe]