Love Amid the Terror

So I am innocently going to lunch emerging from marble elevator bank, and in the lobby I hear music, a capella singers, and I smile when I hear the tune "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm," done in three part harmoney, on pitch, on key, oh how nice, and then ... and then ... horrors!

For who is this trio singing one of my favorite songs, and why are they dressed as they are, with knee high black boots, black knee length trousers, white gloves, scarlet jackets with a white "X" marked off on the front, high black fur hats, their faces painted goulish white with scarlet circles on the apples of their cheeks?

And I ask, why are the giant nutcracker men dressed as soldiers and why are these singers, doing their Christmas carols, dressed as soldiers, as though soldiers had anything to do with the solemn day, of joy and peace on earth?

I stand there in the fancy marble lobby, stock still, and watch as they wrap up the song "... but I will weather the storm/what do I care, how much it may storm/I've got my love to keep me warm ..." and I think to myself, oh yes, I dig the good cheer, dig the love and the season, but these fellows, oh I know who hired them! ... as I glare and shake my fist at the giant shadows in front of my building, on the Sixth Avenue side, oh yes, I know!