Twas
the night before Christmas, but Covid was here
So
we all had to stay extra cautious this year.
Our
masks are well hung by the chimney with care
In
case Santa forgot his and needed a spare.
With
Covid, we couldn’t leave biscuits or cake
So
we just left Santa hand sanitiser to take.
The
children were sleeping, the brave little tots
The
ones over 12 had just had their first shots,
And
mum in her nightie and me in my cap
Had
just settled in for a long winter’s nap.
But
we tossed and we turned all night in our beds
As
visions of variants danced in our heads.
Gamma
and Delta and now Omicron
These
Covid mutations that go on and on
I
thought to myself, “If this doesn’t get better,
I’ll
soon be familiar with every Greek letter”.
Then
just as I started to drift off and doze
A
clatter of noise from the front lawn arose.
I
leapt from my bed and ran straight down the stair
I
opened the door, and an old gent stood there.
His
mask made him look decidedly weird
But
I knew who he was by his red suit and beard.
I
kept 6 feet away but blurted out quick
“What
are you doing here Jolly Saint Nick?”
Then
I said, “Where’s your presents, your reindeer and sleigh?
Don’t
you know that tomorrow will be Christmas Day?”
And
Santa stood there looking sad in the snow
As
he started to tell me a long tale of woe.
He
said he’d been stuck at the North Pole alone
All
his white collar elves had been working from home,
And
most of the others said “Santa don’t hire us!
We
can’t work now thanks to the virus”.
Those
left in the toyshop had little to do.
With
supply chain disruptions, they could make nothing new.
And
as for the reindeer, they’d all gone away
None
of them left to pull on his sleigh.
He
said Dasher and Dancer were in quarantine,
Prancer
and Vixen refused the vaccine,
Comet
and Cupid were in ICU,
As
were Donner and Blitzen, they may not pull through.
And
Rudolph’s career can’t be resurrected.
With
his shiny red nose, they all think he’s infected.
Even
with his old sleigh, Santa couldn’t go far,
Every
border to cross needs a new PCR.
Santa
sighed as he told me how nice it would be
If
children could once more sit on his knee.
He
couldn’t care less if they were naughty or nice
But
they’d have to show proof that they’d had their jabs twice.
But
then the old twinkle returned to his eyes.
And
he said that he had brought me a Christmas surprise.
When
I unwrapped the box and opened it wide,
Starlight
and rainbows streamed out from inside.
Some
letters whirled round and flew up to the sky
And
they spelled out a word that was 40 feet high.
The
first was an H, then an O, then a P,
Then
I saw it spelt HOPE when it added an E.
“Christmas
magic” said Santa as he smiled through his beard.
Then
suddenly all the reindeer appeared.
He
jumped into his sleigh and waved me goodbye
Then
he soared o’er the rooftops and into the sky.
I
heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight
“Get
your vaccines my friends, Merry Christmas, goodnight”.
Then
I went back to bed and a sweet Christmas dream
Of
a world when we’d finished with Covid 19.
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