When rooms are small
Too warm
Packed with wine and holiday good cheer
Family shuffles cheek to jowl
Like horses at the gate
Which when opened
Spurs them to the course
Jockeying for position
Loudest voices prevail
Above overwhelming din
The food eaten in excess
Declared success
Wine exuberantly downed
While one or two of us
Discretely eye the door
Take to the inside lane
Planning escape in our cloaks
Of insubstantialness
Hoping to flee
Before the coffee pours