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A (c)rhyme for Christmas

Clik The Mouse

Friday, December 24th, 2004

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atop
a tree.
Below :
football fan
worried as can be.
Oh I do hope there are
more presents than rhymes
for Christmas
I’d hate it, just hate it, if all I got
from Santa
Was a Kevin Keegan doll. I wannabe fit
this Christmas
Hope my knee improves, that rehab is quick
at Christmas
Cartilage trapped in decrepit joints, described as
an isthmus
Perchance be repaired in time to play on tour in Datça, Turkey
another type, of isthmus
Not least so I can work off the forced feeding of that big plump bird
this Christmas
All that cranberry sauce, crackling logs, crunching snow, crotchety aunts
this Christmas
Warm woolly jumpers, ideal for goalposts, scarves, hats n coats – so snug
this Christmas
All that comfort and cheer, and succour and beer
this Christmas
Not like then : the mud and muck and stench, of rotting, decaying bodies
that Christmas
Flooded trenches, less than a hundred yards apart, No Man’s Land in between :
that’s, an isthmus
They played a match back then, Tom & Jerry frolicked, exchanged goals and presents
that Christmas
But criminally, the camaraderie was commandeered, a forced return to the killing fields
that same
Christmas,
1914.

© Clik the mouse, 24th December 2004

Notes

First the History lesson, now the English lesson :

When searching for a rhyme for Christmas, found only one – isthmus.
Definitions of isthmus:
· noun: a narrow band of tissue connecting two larger parts of an anatomical structure
noun: a relatively narrow strip of land (with water on both sides) connecting two larger land areas

After the history lesson, the geography lesson :

The Suez Canal and the Panama Canal are typical examples of an isthmus.

As are :
Tehuantepec, Southern Mexico : The Isthmus of Tehuantepec forms a narrow 128 mile wide waist in Southern
Mexico between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific ocean.

Kra, Malay Peninsular, Asia

Auckland City, New Zealand

Spare a thought this Christmas, lest we ever forget.

They didn’t learn :

the following, excerpts from a personal diary found by googling ‘isthmus’ on the web, relating to the The Winter War 30th November 1939-13th March 1940

30 Nov 1939 Soviet Army attacks Finland on all fronts with army, airforce and navy. Stronger forces in the northern areas than Finns had expected. Helsinki bombed, 91 persons killed. ‘Guard Groups’ delay enemy in the Carelian Isthmus.

23 Dec 1939 II Corps attacks in the Isthmus, total failure. The offensive of Group Talvela, which began at Tolvajärvi on 11 Dec, ends and positions along River Aittojoki are held till peace.

25 Dec 1939 A new enemy division attacks at Taipale sector. Enemy airforce bombs 11 towns and villages.

27 Dec 1939 9th Division attacks in Suomussalmi sector and takes the village completely after few days. Enemy 163rd Division retreats in panic.

Source: https://footballpoets.org/poems/a-crhyme-for-christmas/