'Twas the Night Before Christmas - A 2024 Poetry Challenge by Dave Rigby

‘Twas the night before Christmas,

When all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring,

Not even a cluck from Chicken,

Warming by the hearth,

Until wooden, good-luck Rabbit,

Stirred on the top shelf of the bookcase

And parachuted, by silk-handkerchief,

To the ground.

‘Ready,' Rabbit said to Chicken.

‘You bet. Let’s go!’

With that, Chicken was off to the garden,

Her chum wheezing heavily to keep up.

The other creatures had already gathered.

The party was on, sprinkled with freshly falling snow

Lit by New Moon, winking between the trees,

Fed by Squirrel’s Stores and watered by Stream,

(Who was still managing to avoid Ice.)

With music provided by the Dove chorus,

They danced into Christmas.