Cold Snap Shopping Poem by C Richard Miles

A cold snap and, surprise, surprise. all England stops
As gritters fail to grit, as shoppers rush to shops,
Flock-like amok, to shop for Christmas in droves.
They drive far too expectantly, in too-thin clothes
So they catch cold for, unlike presents parcelled up
In gaudy paper, ribbons and string, they've rolled up
In fashion far too skimpy for the season, though
They knew the forecast was for freezing sleet and snow
And so they're stuck in the snow-bound, un-snowploughed street
And start to freeze, unwilling to accept, like heat, defeat
These stupid stationary shoppers surely must have known
It would have been best if they had stayed at home
But then perhaps there's something in their reason
That self-impels them on to celebrate the season,
A selflessness that makes them think of others:
Gifts for sisters, uncles, fathers, partners, mothers, brothers
And aunts of every age and shape and size that's living
Perchance the answer's that this is the time for giving.