Stay in a hotel this year In a poor part of town, nowhere near The house in sparkling finery Get there late, leave early Bearing dreadful cold respectful gifts Wireless headsets, jars of cake mix In the gloom of the afternoon In the gloom of the afternoon Clear your head out in the cold You've been lost since you were nine years old And the sky gets cluttered up with stars And other cryptic intimations And the circuitous side streets cross themselves Like superstitious old relations Til you lose, you lose, you lose You lose your patience