1996
by Graydon G. Goss
‘Twas a month before Christmas and all through our house,
Not a creature was peaceful especially my spouse.
She had dragged home from Macy’s at quarter past ten,
And in less than eight hours she would head back again.
And I was no better, just back from the coast,
We were simply exhausted, I mean, we were toast!
I’d been seeing some patients, and, still in a suit,
Was a wreck from my 3000 mile commute.
Our eyes were all blurry, our minds were a mess,
And we longed for some kind of release from the stress.
Too tired to eat we collapsed in a heap,
And I knew in a moment we needed some sleep!
She spoke not a word, but went straight up to bed,
With visions of fashion shoes stuck in her head.
She hung up her clothes with her usual care,
(While mine wound up strewn o’er the back of a chair.)
In a couple of minutes she drifted away,
While I reminisced what transpired that day.
And drifting asleep to those boring events,
My prose became effortlessly present tense.
Abruptly I find myself jolted awake!
(And since we’re in Jersey it can’t be a quake).
I go to the window and what do I see,
But a miniature sleigh balanced high in our tree.
I knew what was happening - ( I read the poem ),
So I spied on the guy who’d invaded our home.
He spoke not a word but went straight to his mission,
Setting out to accomplish the things I’d been wishin’.
He did all the bills and he paid
them in cash,
Then he cleaned the whole kitchen and took out the trash.
He vacuumed and polished and dusted the house,
Then he ran to the laptop and picked up the mouse.
He cleared up my hard-drive and tweaked up the RAM,
And he downloaded files with the speed of a SAM.
His typing was flawless, his clicking was hip,
Yeah, he knew what to do with a Pentium
chip!
And after a while when he’d cleaned up the clutter
that pervaded my life like an o’erflowing gutter,
He gave me a wink in the hall where I’d hidden
‘Cause he’d known all along so just who was I kiddin’?
He rose up the chimney and called to his team
And they hastened away like a vanishing dream.
But I heard him exclaim as they drove out of sight -
“Get some rest, ye old fool, ’tis the mid’l ‘o the night!”
But perhaps I exaggerate; most of the year,
Has been fruitful and fun and the source of much cheer.
And seriously we are all doing great,
For at long last we’ve spent a whole year in one state!
The chaos has lessened, the moving is done,
We have merged all our stuff and we’re having some fun.
But the way that I know that the worst is now past -
We have finally sold the
snow-blower at last.
Merry Christmas to All!
Eileen and Graydon
1996