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An Island Christmas Poem

December 24, 2021
By Boca Beacon Reader
Twas the night before Christmas and all around No noses were frozen, no snow fluttered down. No children in flannels were tucked into bed. They all wore their shorty pajamas instead! To find wreaths of holly was not very hard, For holly trees grow ferociously  in everyone’s yard. In front of the houses were daddies […]

Twas the night before Christmas

and all around

No noses were frozen, no snow

fluttered down.

No children in flannels were

tucked into bed.

They all wore their shorty

pajamas instead!

To find wreaths of holly was

not very hard,

For holly trees grow ferociously 

in everyone’s yard.

In front of the houses were

daddies and moms

adorning the mangroves 

and coconut palms.

The slumbering kiddies were

dreaming in glee

And hoped they’d find water skis

under the tree.

They all knew that Santa was

well on his way,

driving a boat instead of a sleigh.

Soon he arrived and started to work,

he hadn’t a moment to linger or shirk.

He whizzed down the Intracoastal

and up each lagoon,

delivering his presents and not

a moment too soon. 

The tropical moon gave the

island a glow,

and lighted the way for Santa below.

As he jumped from his boat

and gave a quick smile,

he was dressed in his Jams and

looked quite in style.

He stopped at each house,

staying only a minute

and emptied his sack of all the

goodies that were in it.

Before he departed he treated 

himself to a glass of 

papaya juice left on the shelf.

Then he turned with a jerk and

bounced back to the boat,

hoping, of course, it would

still be afloat.

He switched on the running lights,

gave it some gas

and down the waterway he streaked,

headed for the Pass.

And I heard him exclaim as he

went on his way …

“Merry Christmas, dear island – 

I wish I could stay!”

– Anne Merry

Originally printed in the December 16, 1988 edition of the Boca Beacon