Names in our stocking

What do we want in our Christmas stocking? Nothing that's really so very shocking. Just a handy guide to each new name On this year's roster of instant fame. Everyone talks about Jaruzelski, But who knows if that's the way it's spellski? Certainly Libya's Qaddafi has more different versions Than Khomeini (remember him?) in the land of Medes and Persians. It's enough to make us toss a nice bouquet of trilliums When the signature is as easy as Shirley Williams Or those gentlemen known to every supply-side tot and gaffer, Mr. Gilder, Mr. Wanniski, and (watch for curves) Mr. Laffer. But fill our sock with an even better prize: A glass to peer through with another's eyes And see that Papandreou should be no odder outside Greece Than America's Brock, Block, Deaver, Stockman, Watt, and Meese. Nor would Mubarak sound familiar only to Egyptians Were the world less provincial about folks of all descriptions. In short, it shouldn't matter if we're near or far From someone like the UN's Perez de Cuellar. Who needs a Yuletide stocking to prevent name-dropping danger? Nothing is strange to one who refuses to be a stranger.