What a marvel, to be singing
Christmas carols in a crowd
Of close to forty – all family –
And, suddenly, all of them mine.

I was altogether pleased I came.
I was not alone in being drunk.
By midnight, I had passed out
Colder than a wood wedge.

Then at dawn, the lawn and hedge
Iced-over, the Christmas spirit out
Of joint, like me, still rocking, drunk
From merely toasting each one’s name.

Renewed, I woke to sunshine –
Sleep, it seemed, the remedy
For one who crowed too loudly, proud
Of his new in-laws, not his singing.