An Ephemeral Thing

By Daisy Constant Drexel

But yesterday I was a living thing;
Bedecked with tinsel and with baubles hung,
I glowed with lights that shimmered, string on string;
From carolers, I heard my praises sung.
A shining star, a halo for my hair,
A symbol of the lowly Jesus’ birth
Shed radiance all about me, standing there;
A peace and blessed stillness filled the earth.

Today, I have been stripped and cast aside;
I lie among the shadows in the gloom;
I feel the thrust of needles in my side;
The passing of the Yuletide sealed my doom.
If I but knew they would my spirit keep
Through all the year to come, then I could sleep.

(1940)