– by Larry Powell
‘Twas the night before Christmas
and all through the land
global warming was here. \
It was grand! It was grand!
Cars would start!
Ice would melt!
Folks wore their light clothes,
while up through their chimneys
mere wisps of smoke rose!
On the air one could hear
mindless broadcasters say
"It's eleven degrees.
But up at the pole it was not Santa's day.
Two of his reindeer had just passed away.
Dasher and Dancer had sadly drowned
while playing with mates confined to the ground.
There was a river they could normally cross.
But its ice had grown thin in the tenuous frost.
The two were not helped by the fact they could fly.
And the cold, clear water is where they did die.
The great bears of the north had met similar ends.
Just as learn-ed scholars did indeed portend.
Christmas day dawned, but alas, 'twas not white!
Lawns were brown, fields were black. It just didn't seem right!
The skis and toboggans the kids had received were soon tossed aside
just like old Christmas trees.
"The moon on the crest of the new-fallen snow gave the luster of midday to objects below."
A decade from now when these words are intoned
will their image be real - or merely a poem?
and all through the land
global warming was here. \
It was grand! It was grand!
Cars would start!Ice would melt!
Folks wore their light clothes,
while up through their chimneys
mere wisps of smoke rose!
On the air one could hear
mindless broadcasters say
"It's eleven degrees.
Hope this thaw lasts 'til May!”
But up at the pole it was not Santa's day.
Two of his reindeer had just passed away.
Dasher and Dancer had sadly drowned while playing with mates confined to the ground.
There was a river they could normally cross.
But its ice had grown thin in the tenuous frost.
The two were not helped by the fact they could fly.
And the cold, clear water is where they did die.
The great bears of the north had met similar ends.
Just as learn-ed scholars did indeed portend.
Christmas day dawned, but alas, 'twas not white!
Lawns were brown, fields were black. It just didn't seem right!
The skis and toboggans the kids had received were soon tossed aside
just like old Christmas trees.
"The moon on the crest of the new-fallen snow gave the luster of midday to objects below."A decade from now when these words are intoned
will their image be real - or merely a poem?
