The Skeleton In The Cupboard

Just this one day in all the year      Let all be one, let all be dear;      Wife, husband, child in fond embrace,      And thrust the phantom from its place.      No bitter words, no frowning brow,      Disturb the Christmas festal, now      The skeletons behind the door.      Nor let the child, with looks askance,      Find out its sad inheritance      From souls that held no happiness,      Of home, where love is seldom guest;      But in his coming years retain      This one sweet night that had no pain;      The skeletons behind the door.      In vain you raise the wassail bowl,      And pledge your passion, soul to soul.      You hear the sweet bells ring in rhyme,      You wreath the room for Christmas time      In vain.    The solemn silence falls,      The death watch ticks within the walls;      The skeleton taps on the door.      Then let him back into his place,      Let us sit out the old disgrace;      Nor seek the phantom now to lay,      That haunted us through every day;      For plainer is the ghost; useless      Is this pretence of happiness;      The skeleton taps on the door.