By Larry Garnett
‘Twas the night before their last Christmas on
Earth
The Good Ship was waiting, floating
still in its birth;
Their belongings were packed in the trunks with care,
Aboard the shuttle that soon, would take them there;
The old farts in the condo lay snug in their beds,
While visions of spaceflight danced in their heads;
But mamma and I, we didn’t give a crap,
We were looking forward to a long journey’s nap.
When up in the sky, I heard a loud sputter,
Followed by words I would seldom utter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the blinds and saw it crash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Bathed the ark-like object in an unearthly glow,
Then out of the wreckage he appeared on the run,
An odd-looking man, holding a gun.
His hair was a mess, his beard was too,
And what followed him out, looked like zoo
More rapid than eagles these aliens 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!”
I watched them ascend, aliens all!
They appeared to be every shape and size,
Some had multiple limbs or numerous eyes,
They crawled, they lept, and some even flew,
The man hitched a ride with one that was blue.
I grabbed my smartphone and raced for the roof
No one would believe me if I didn’t have proof.
I shot up the stairs with a leap and an bound,
As I pulled the door open, he turned around . . .
He was dressed in overalls, and a plaid flannel shirt,
And his face was all covered with smudges of dirt;
A well-worn old shotgun was held firm in his hands,
I waited in fear for his alien demands.
But his eyes — how they twinkled! His dimples how
merry!
His big bushy eyebrows, didn’t seem quite so scary!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And stuck in his beard were the remnants
of snow;
A piece of a straw he held tight in his dentures,
What worlds had he seen; what kind of adventures?
He wore a rumpled old hat and had a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.
“Smiley Pete’s the name,” he said with a grin,
“Hope y’all don’t mind, just thought I’d drop in”.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
“I was just wonderin’ if I might use y’all’s phone,
We hit a bump in our journey, but it’s time to go home.”
So laying his shotgun beside a roof fan,
He gave a big grin and held out his hand;
A short while later a vessel appeared,
It beamed up the creatures and the man with the beard.
But I heard him exclaim, before he left this place,
“MERRY CHRISTMAS TO Y’ALL, AND I’ll SEE YA IN SPACE!”