[New-Poetry] Santa from the Writer's Almanac

[Anny Ballardini]

Today is *Christmas Eve*. And a very famous poem, "A Visit from St.
Nicholas," takes place on this night. It was published anonymously in 1823.
The author was thought to be Clement Clarke Moore, but recently, many
scholars have questioned that and think it might have been written by Henry
Livingston Jr.

The narrator hears a noise outside and wakes up just in time to see St.
Nicholas land on the roof, driving a team of reindeer. St. Nick slides down
the chimney, stuffs all the stockings, and then taps his nose and zooms back
up the chimney and away.

Christmas Eve is also the setting for *The Polar Express*, a children's book
written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg, which was published in 1985.
A young boy is lying awake in bed, trying to hear the sound of Santa's
sleigh bells. Instead, he hears a train conductor calling, and he runs
outside in his pajamas and bathrobe and joins many other children on a train
called the Polar Express, bound for the North Pole. They drink hot chocolate
and sing carols and watch the snow through the windows. Finally, they reach
Santa's workshop at the North Pole, and arrive in a square packed with
elves. Santa chooses one child to receive the first gift of Christmas, and
it is the boy. He can have anything he wants, and he chooses a silver bell
from Santa's sleigh.
He puts it in the pocket of his bathrobe. Back on board the train, all the
children want to see it, and he discovers that the bell has fallen through a
hole in his pocket and is lost. He's heartbroken, and he goes back to his
house and falls asleep. The next morning, Christmas morning, he finds a
little present under the tree — and it is, of course, the silver bell. He
rings it, and he and his little sister, Sarah, think it sounds beautiful,
but his parents can't hear the bell.

*The Polar Express* ends: "At one time most of my friends could hear the
bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found
one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've
grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly
believe."


-- 
Anny Ballardini
http://annyballardini.blogspot.com/
http://www.fieralingue.it/modules.php?name=poetshome
http://www.moriapoetry.com/ebooks.html
I Tell You: One must still have chaos in one to give birth to a dancing
star!
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