‘Twas the Night…...
'Twas the night before Canwest, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The boaters all nestled up snug in their beds,
While visions of clean water danced on in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,
When down on the pond there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a big flock of geese, with a s_ _t-load of gear,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than hydros, those big geese they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Dasher! now, Dumper! now, Pooper and Pissen!
On, Comet! on Crapper! on, Plopper and Drippen!
To the top of the pond! to the top of the wall!
Now poop away! poop away! poop away all!"
As dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly,
When they see a clean sidewalk, they pile it high,
So up to the house-top the big geese they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof,
The thumping and bumping of each little loaf.
As they covered my shingles (each one weighs a pound),
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with feathers and poop;
A bundle of boats he had flung on his back,
He looked just like a modeller when opening his pack.
His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
(He’d been sniffing the glue on his workbench alow),
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
A blown out fuse he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke from short-circuits rose up like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then he turned with a jerk!
And laying his fingers aside of his nose,
He sprang to his sleigh, ere that stench it arose.
And then to his team he gave a great honk,
And they let fly all with more droppings, kerplonk!
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."