By Justine Smite

‘Twas the week before Christmas, when all through the school
All the students were studying, even the “cool.�
Our stockings were abandoned for the all of our work,
In vain hopes that our grades would drastically perk.

We students were dreaming of all our warm beds,
While visions of vacation danced in our heads.
And the teachers in their classrooms, some grading tests,
Had some plans for some homework, despite our protests.

When out on the plaza we heard such a clatter,
We broke with our books to see what was the matter.
Out the library door we flew like a flash,
Down the library stairs â€" we really did dash.

The sun on the breast of the plaza’s red brick,
Gave the plaza a luster quite short of magic,
When, what to our skeptical eyes should appear,
But that old yellow truck, which was sporting a smear.

With a little old stranger, his clothing so ragged
We knew after a moment he was quite uninvited.
More rapid than eagles, he drove his truck ‘round,
And he whistled and shouted, beside him a hound:

“Now students, now teachers!
Now hear my loud message!
No homework! No quizzes!
No tests and no knowledge!
To the big shopping malls!
To the big cushy couch!
Now dash away! Dash away!
Come on, debouch!�

As angry seagulls that fight over mere garbage,
The teachers were angry â€" they screamed, “Murder…Carnage!â€?
So out to the blacktop, the stranger he rode,
And excited and frenzied, we willingly followed

And then, in a twinkling, we heard on the field
The stop of his engine, the silence revealed.
As we stopped talking and moving, we turned around,
Out the old yellow truck the man came with a bound.

He was dressed all in rags, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of trash bags he had on his back,
And he looked like a garbage man picking up trash.

But his eyes â€" they still twinkled! His dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His wide, thin mouth was stretched in such a large smile,
That his eyes were near hidden in the crinkles’ pile.

He had a well-chewed toothpick held in his mouth,
(In our school a pipe simply cannot be allowed.)
He had a thin face, and no little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

He was thin and looked starved, but still rather jolly,
And we stared when we saw him â€" he looked so grungy.
But with a quick wink, we all knew right away,
He was on our side â€" it was homework’s doomsday.

He went straight to work â€" on his face was a smirk â€"
And took all our tests and textbooks and homework,
Leaving all the teachers quite thoroughly dumbstruck,
And then gave us a smile and climbed back in his truck.

He gunned his engine, to his hound gave a whistle,
And away he drove like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,

“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!�

Submitted By butterfly

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