The Night Before Christmas

The night before Christmas
Was it really here?
Hardly no time at all
Until Ol' St Nick would appear

The tree was trimmed
And the lights all hung
All the parties were over
And the songs all sung

... Everything was ready
For tomorrow morn
When bows would be undone
And wrapping paper torn

A few presents waited
To be wrapped up all neat
But I needed to rest
Take a load off my feet

I sat in my chair
With a cup of hot brew
Relaxing and thinking
Of what was left to do

The TV came to life
With a touch of the remote
Nothing much was on
Just a rerun of 'The Love Boat'

But wait! There's more,
A commercial for the Ginsu knife
Then I stopped on a favorite,
'Its A Wonderful Life"

After the movie was over
I pondered the plot
About the consequences
Of being born or not

I sat there and thought
Of the things in my life
Everything I had accomplished,
My kids, my wife

I yawned a little then
And ran a hand thru my hair
Setting my cup down
I burrowed deeper in my chair

I thought about George
And what I would see
If we could trade places
And I was him and he was me

I was still in my chair
When I yawned and awoke
The room was quite cold
And seemed to be filled with smoke

I jumped to my feet
Expecting to see a flame
But across the room was a man
And he was calling my name

The man was odd looking
Over 6 feet I bet
With eyes like coal
And his hair stringy and wet

His clothes were all black
From foot to head
Except for his tie
A bright splash of red

Attached to his jacket
Was a pale pink rose
And horn rimmed glasses
Were perched on his nose

As I started torward him
He turned with a grin
'I'm glad you made it', he said
'Where have you been?'

His voice was familiar
Had I heard it before?
I started to ask him
But he led me to a door

We entered a room
Ablaze with bright light
He motioned for me to sit
As he sat to my right

The room was quite large
With shelves on each wall
Each shelf loaded with books
Some large, some small

He began to speak
As I studied the room
His voice soft and echoing
As if we were in a tomb

He spoke of life
And things unseen
Men who were good
Those who were mean

He said I was lucky
To have so many friends
Those who stick with you
Right to the end

He said the books contained names
Of everyone I had met
'You touched their lives', he said
'There'll be more, I'll bet!'

'Is this heaven?' I said
Looking for a clue
'It's close', he responded
When its time, you'll know what to do

'Who are you?' I said
'Why am I here?'
He took me by the arm, saying
'You have nothing to fear'

'Live your life right
Right up to the end'
'You may be required
to help an old friend'

Then he was gone
I was back in the bar
I was exhausted
As if I had traveled far

to be continued