SONNET WITH THE COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON

     
     
           TO A POPULAR LEADER MUCH TO BE CONGRATULATED
     ON THE AVOIDANCE OF A STRIKE AT CHRISTMAS.
           I know you. You will hail the huge release,
     Saying the sheathing of a thousand swords,
     In silence and injustice, well accords
     With Christmas bells. And you will gild with grease
     The papers, the employers, the police,
     And vomit up the void your windy words
     To your New Christ; who bears no whip of cords
     For them that traffic in the doves of peace.
           The feast of friends, the candle-fruited tree,
     I have not failed to honour. And I say
     It would be better for such men as we,
     And we be nearer Bethlehem, it we lay
     Shot dead on scarlet snows for liberty,
     Dead in the daylight upon Christmas Day.