Holiday

Come home, he said,
But do not bring
Your friends who smoke or drink,
Or anyone
our neighbours will
look at and stop to think,
“Oh ho, just see
How progressive
These people want to be.”
Come home, and sit
With me awhile
Till old is dead and gone,
And then remember:
When you still
are young you can be wrong;
but in old age
– you know too well –
Tradition saves your life,
and when you’re torn
by doubt, you know
Tradition ends your strife.
For what is safer
Than the safe
That old custom affords?
The comfort of
the knowledge that
you will be backed by hordes.
So in the break
for summer or for
for winter, fall or spring,
Come home and sit
– or stand – by all
the lessons you have learned
from parents or
from relatives
who teach you how to spurn
these people, like
these friends of yours
correctly; in the way
our ancestors
would tell you to;
Hear no evil,
nor say the name
of God in vain, or keep
the company
of folks like these.