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‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
Cheerfully mangled by Jan Pelfrey
Tallahassee Astronomical Society
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‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even my spouse!
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes Nick Copernicus soon would be there.
The TAS folks were nestled, all snug in their beds
While visions of nebulae danced in their heads.
The ‘scopes were all shuttered, the charts out of sight,
Venus was our bright star, this Christmas night.
Then out on the deck there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter.
To the sliding glass door I flew like a flash,
Pulled open the blind and peered through the glass.
The moon on the *** of the new fallen dew
Made neighbors’ observatories look just like new.
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,
I knew it a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than nova, his coursers they came,
And he whistled and shouted and called them by name:
Now Kuiper, now Kepler,
Now Cannon, Cassini,
On Herschel, on Hubble
On Huygens and Halley!
To the top of the dome,
To the top of the wall
Now dash away, dash away,
Dash away all!
And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I closed up the blind and was turning around
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of eyepieces he had on his back,
He looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes – how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were ‘rosettes’, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
The beard on his chin like white digital ‘snow’.
His pack, it was stuffed full of tubes and a finder,
A year of Astronomy, so neat in its binder.
Four colors of glass, are those filters for ME?
And then he pulled out: a new CCD!
He spoke not a word but went straight to his work,
Filled all of the stockings, then turned with a jerk,
Laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle
And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim as he headed up high,
"Merry Christmas y’all, and to all a dark sky!"
(And the same from me! --Jan)
Twinkle twinkle little star . . How I've wondered what we are . .
Now I know you're made of dust . . Now I know you're just like us . .
Twinkle twinkle, oh so far . . Now I know I am a star.
Anonymous
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