Whether ripped off
in a violent paroxysm of delight
or picked at carefully, slowly,
to preserve and prolong the effect,
its destruction will be absolute.

What sat so long
on supermarket shelves, then in secret places,
to emerge at dead of evening with
its entourage of tape and ribbon and tags,
will soon be annihilated.

Excitement mounts and tension rises,
while beneath the Christmas tree, an absurd
swarm of mayflies, resplendent in seasonal finery,
will live but a few days.