After Christmas

'Twas the week after Christmas, and all through the house


Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.


The cookies I'd nibbled, the eggnog I'd taste


At the holiday parties had gone to my waist.


When I got on the scales there arose such a number!


When I walked to the store (less a walk than a lumber).


I'd remember the marvelous meals I'd prepared;


The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared,


The wine and the rum balls, the bread and the cheese


And the way I'd never said, "No thank you, please."


As I dressed myself in my husband's old shirt


And prepared once again to do battle with dirt---


I said to myself, as I only can


"You can't spend a winter disguised as a man!"


So--away with the last of the sour cream dip,


Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip


Every last bit of food that I like must be banished


"Till all the additional ounces have vanished.


I won't have a cookie--not even a lick.


I'll want only to chew on a long celery stick.


I won't have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie,


I'll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.


I'm hungry, I'm lonesome, and life is a bore---


But isn't that what January is for?


Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.


Happy New Year to all and to all a good diet!