The daffodils’ petals were gild with snow
Through frosted trees branches the winds did blow
Through the mountain peaks high and valley low
While Yumeh the cat sat by a fires warm glow

The gathering time was almost here
The rooms and people aglow with cheer
For the holiday season we all hold dear
But of what holiday it is, is not quite clear

Shoga pondered and thought he had to find
The reasons that people became so kind
When all the rest the year they seemed so blind
Was it all just an act, was it all just mimed

He saw it as he walked down Menewsha Lane
Corner after corner it was all the same
Brilliant smiles on faces normally quite plain
Inside their hearts burned the kindest of flame

The windows of stores held beauty and light
Toys on display were the prettiest of sights
Dolls and trains and books and some kites
A Pez dispenser Santa that flew into the night

He stopped at a cafe for an espresso and a snack
Took his cookie and coffee and went to the back
Sat at a table and began to mentally track
How people so generous could the rest of the year lack

Was it the chill in the air from the snow and the ice
Could that be the reason to make everyone nice
Could Jack Frost’s cool grip these feelings entice
Shoga pondered on this but it didn’t suffice

It just couldn’t just be only the ice and the cold
These feelings of giving and smiles so bold
Didn’t last through the winters long chilly hold
Maybe it was borrowed maybe it was sold

Maybe the cheer was just a drug in the food
Slipped in for people who ponder and brood
Not caring for others and acting quite rude
A facelift of sorts rather a change in attitude

He sipped on his coffee as he pondered the thought
There had to be a way to discover what he sought
To find if the feelings were more false than not
He stilled and looked down at the cookie he’d bought

The answers he sought were here on the table
He could find out if it was false if he was able
To bring the cookie to his lips his belief proven stable
Or to find that his thoughts were merely a fable

He picked up the cookie and started to bite
But then he realized that drugs couldn’t be right
Many things he had bought before this night
Yet he wasn’t affected by this strange kindness blight

What then could be the cause of it all
The feelings so big from the acts so small
Could religion be responsible for sounding the call
For rising the loving spire so lofty and tall

But not everyone out upon the cold darkened street
Could claim at one secular church they did meet
So once again round Shoga’s head did repeat
This milk of human kindness came from what teat

He finished his coffee and stood with a groan
The night grew much later it was time to go home
Soft snow had started falling while he sat in a zone
He wished he had spent his time lost in a tome

He grumbled and sighed as he walked out the door
Sad to be leaving the warmth of the quaint coffee store
His mind in a jumble his heart felt quite tore
For wonder when came the kindness at holiday’s lore

He absently put change in a bell ringing man’s pot
Helped an old man with some packages he bought
Flagged down a cab that a harried woman sought
And all this was done with nary a thought

He never did figure out from where the kindness had came
Whether drugs or climate or religion took blame
He may never realize that the result is the same
After all a rose is still a rose by any other name
___________________

Gad I suck at poety... Just thought I would give it a shot though. Let me know if I forgot something!

Thanks!