`Twas balmy in Rockville on X-mas eve, too,
the dregs of snow melting down into no more than dew.
Our Rockvillian, forestalling already tardy wrapping,
checked his e-mail to see if aught else was hap'ning.
The screen twinkled some icons to say “establishing link”
A click, a whirr, then the machine paused as to think,
Then a loud burst of static, a louder series of tones
and squawking like digital frogs uttering digital groans,
another long silent wait with icons whiling on screen
then a beep and a flash: a new symbolic scene
to inform me I had an incoming epistle;
I clicked the mail application quick as the down of a thistle
and there, in my inbox, were a score of fresh spam
selling bridges, quick riches
and a species of happiness that comes in a can
and more lists of addresses and e-marketing tips
which were all quickly deleted (I recycled their bits)
yet there in my inbox another message remained
from the account of one named for the orator’s saint,
patriarch of my erstwhile significant-est other,
from She, Herself, Rocky the Dog, and Her mother.
What glad tidings to hearken, what photons to see
blasting forth from my monitor and showering me
in digital rays of holiday cheer!
(a comparable intoxicant to watery beer)
The message was brief, the Latin translatable,
the impact of receipt made me highly elatable,
that I buoyantly set out in meter and rhyme
that by now has consumed a considerable time
and is quite a challenge to keep up in the flow
but must be sort of like the verse of Li Po
(who, you remember, composed on the spur of the second
as quick as and whenever his patron beckoned)
I wanna wrap up saying you made my night,
as my thoughts of you make each moment bright,
and to thank you for your kind timely wishes,
and hope your eating, too, is delicious,
you wine, fine and mellow, your fêtes all successes
and your glory to god, as you say, in excelcis.
That and my own invocation of merry christmas
(and a restful vacation from too busy business)
with many happy returns, for your family and you
Joyous new year, century and millennium too!