‘Twas the Day Before Christmas
With apologies to Clement C. Moore
‘Twas the day before Christmas, when all afternoon,
Stretched out before us, a well-deserved boon,
The string lights were hung in the backyard with care,
While fire pits and heat lamps warmed up the air.
The children were languorous, tired to their bones,
From conjuring parties on well-worn cell phones,
My wife in her gloves, and I in my mask,
Had happily finished each and every last task.
We’d trimmed the tree, and festooned all the doors,
We’d fixed leaky pipes and varnished the floors,
The gutters were cleared, and shutters all mended,
It seemed our old house’s needs were attended.
We sat at the table, preparing to dine,
on oysters and clams and a lobster so fine.
When all of a sudden as I tucked into chowder,
I heard a noise that became loud and then louder.
We ran to the door and through the white vapor,
We saw a commotion “What could be this caper?”
A carriage of some sort with lights glowing red,
Headed right for us, and quickly it sped.
It was crowded with figures all dressed in snow suits,
Bristling energy and purpose from their heads to their boots,
I called to them quickly “who are you out yonder?”
“No worries!” they cried, “We’re all first responders!”
“We took a wrong turn, trying to get back to Chatham,
Dispatch gave us directions and we thought we had’em,
But with this thick fog, so dense and so soupy,
Our old GPS has gone terribly loopy!”
“We’ve made rounds all day to take care of the sick,
And hoping that if we can all get home quick,
We’ll have supper with our families before the eve’s done,
And tuck in the little ones who have dreams to be spun.”
“We can help!” said our kids with a gleam in their eyes,
“We have just the thing!”, as we gasped with surprise,
They pulled out a mysterious, glowing contraption,
A dory strung with lights, astride a trailer for traction.
"We made this as a gift for you, Mom and Dad,
And if it can help them, we’ll be ever so glad,
Let us lead them to town, we both know the way,
It’ll be a cinch with our own homemade sleigh!"
Not a moment to lose, the kids jumped aboard,
Ready to guide the bravehearted town-ward,
We gave them all cocoa amid many a cheer,
And off they went, fast as any reindeer.
Plunging ahead, they seemed almost in flight,
And turned back to wave, in the flash from the Light,
“Happy Holidays!”, they called as they dashed from the scene,
“Tonight we shall rest, then we’ll fetch The Vaccine!”
