I came by hand, by boat and plane

I came by boxcar at the end of a train

Posted, Collected Stamped and selected

Delivered to you though I may be rejected

Yet here I stand as tall as a clock

On the shelf above fire a codicil of shock

Quite unexpected like a bolt from the blue

A Christmas card lonely from me to you

As I look round there is no season’s reminder

No Christmas tree glistening no gladdened rejoinder

No holly, no mistletoe no halls decked with glee

I am the only Christmas card no other can I see

Just the tick of a clock measuring time in a skein

In a house where no one can remember your name

Was it always this way? Has it always been so?

Did you ever keep Christmas that’s what I need to know?

Was there a time past in the darkness long gone

Where a festive tree stood and St. David’s star shone?

Was there ever a place in this house of despair?

For a red suited to pretend not to be there

Did anyone leave you a gift in the night?

A surprise unexpected from beyond horizons sight

Was there anything you did that held no boon for you?

Will you weigh the debts the world owes you and collect those overdue?

Perhaps you wonder why I came to sit upon this shelf

I sport no greeting, no trite wish and covert not your wealth

I am in fact anonymous from no one you have known 

I am the seed of a tamarind forgotten but still sown

I search the world for those alone, for those who have no friend

The miserly, the misanthrope no love to give or send

And singled out I touch each heart to melt that block of ice