Ode to Christmas (1972)

Christmas time is here again.
It's hard to tell today
Just when it did begin.
It's time for joy and cheer,
And for friends to share a beer.
For love is what it's all about.
It's time to laugh and sing and shout.

But something's gone from Christmas
When you're forced to be away
Defending honor of cold and brass.
When was it love was to have its day?
Herod slew babes to protect his throne.
We slay all just to keep the dollar prone.

The babe was safe layin' in the manger.
Herod not yet had the bomb.
So the kid was free from danger.
Christmas past, present and to come
The joke keeps getting stranger.

I remember Christmas as a kid
When long before the Christmas sun had shone,
The tree of all its booty had been rid.
The tree stood naked, bare and all alone.

Having done its job so well,
It now is left alone to die
Amidst the cornerstones of hell,
As in a dung heap it does lie.

But that's not what comes to mind
When I think of what was left behind.
Those gifts were cheap
But what they did represent
Was something I could not help but keep.

The Dakota morn was crisp and cold.
But, inside, all were warm.
'Cause all knew that Santa Claus
Had brought a gift of love
From a warm and human soul.

Christmas may be different here,
'Cause I'm alone and gone
From those I've held so dear.
But, of one thing I am sure.
I learned what Christmas really was
On those cold Dakota morns.
When the walls of human hearts
Kept me from the cold.

The winds they have grown colder
Than the ones I knew back then.
And others have joined the wall.
And together we get bolder

What we learned yesterday
Is what we are today.
And, what we learn today
Is what we'll be on Christmases to come.
Thank you for giving me
Those cold Dakota morns.
The tree, the wall and I,
We need never be alone!