'Tis the night before Christmas, and all is well
For the righteous keep on thriving while the sinners burn in hell;
Those on the nice list shall get there boons; and for the naughty, who would care?
If they disappeared from their homes before their loved ones became aware.
The nice children stay nestled all snug in their beds,
While the naughty are taken as slaves or relieved of their heads.
Neither mamma in her 'kerchief, or dad in his cap,
Dare stand in fate’s way, or they’d be gone in a snap.
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
They sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window they 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 miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
They thought for a moment, “This must be a trick.”
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN! On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONDER and BLITZEN!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of mystery, and Wizard Santa too.
And then, in a twinkling, they heard on the roof
The prancing and stomping of each little hoof.
As the dad drew his sword, and mom panicked around,
Down the chimney the Half Elf came with a bound.
He was dressed in mammoth fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A sack of souls he had flung onto his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes -- how they frightened! His smile how scary,
And with the hat of a wizard, the two knew to be wary.
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a narrow face and a disproportionately fat belly.
That shook when he laughed like an Ochre Jelly.
He was pale and unsettling, a right creepy old elf,
The mom shrieked when she saw him, in spite of herself;
A wink of his eye and an evil twist of his head,
Soon gave the dad to know he had everything to dread;
He spoke not a word, but looked straight to his list;
Muttering about who’s been naughty, then turning to them with a hiss.
He looks into the souls of the dad and his hoe
And with the snap of his fingers, into the sack they go.
He sprang to the bedroom, terrifying the young boy,
But to the child’s surprise, merely hands him a toy.
The orphan heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"MERRY CHRISTMAS TO THE NICE, AND MAY THE NAUGHTY FEEL FRIGHT"
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