Malacandra
Member
The Ruba'iya't of Aba-Nazar
Awake! For Winter on the Shortest Day
Flings playful Snowballs bidding Care away,
And lo! the Beech-log on the Hearth ablaze
Bids us prepare to make the Yule-tide Gay.
You all did know how I - the Famous Grouse -
Divorced old Humbug Christmas from my House,
Banished all Joy and Merriment alike
And took the Daughter of the Mine to Spouse.
Come now, with Aba-Nazar by the Fire
Roast Chestnuts; Hark to Music of the Choir;
Make merry Christmas Feast, and listen well
To Song which should the Souls of Men inspire.
For when old Marley - Dead this Seven Year -
Did in my very Chamber chill appear
His Aspect stern, forbidding, wretched, lost,
My spirit filled with well-deserved fear.
How had I left my Fellow-Man in Need
As Marley in his turn, consumed by Greed,
And cursed thereby to wander all the Earth
In Ghastly Shape - his warning I should heed -
And Spirits Three that night should Entertain
And well should List to, heedless of the Pain,
Of Present, Past and Future to Discern
And learn a Lesson greatly to my Gain.
Came Christmas Past, ablaze like Candle-Light,
The first of three great Spirits in one night
And led me miles and years and years away
Bringing my Boyhood Days before my sight.
As Schoolboy lone in School-House empty Sate
While Fellows all departed by the Gate
Yelling with glee, their Holiday begun,
But Merry Christmas was not Scrooge's Fate.
By his own Sire rejected and forgot,
Of pity and of comfort not one spot,
Joyless was Aba-Nazar left alone
And comfortless and heavy was his lot.
Yet grown to hearty Stripling merry made
With Fezziweg his Master's table laid
For Christmas Feast for all beneath his roof;
And might have won the heart of pretty maid -
But Aba-Nazar cared for naught but Gold
And so his Sweetheart, grieved for Love grown Cold,
Returned his Ring and bid him sad Fare-Well:
O, weep for Love and Marriage cheaply Sold!
Now jolly Christmas Giant, Torch a-Blaze,
Brought Merry Christmas of the Present Days
And showed Me many Sights of Rich and Poor
That fain could well the coldest Heart amaze.
For some - I tell you true: this is no Fable:
Could well Afford to set their Christmas-Table,
While others, lean of Face and Purse alike,
In spite of Same, did all that they were able.
As Cratchit set a Goose upon his Board
His Family dined as best they could afford
And toasted Aba-Nazar - not in Love,
But Duty-blessed My name before the LORD!
While Frederick, My Sister's only Son,
With guests made Sport and merry Games and Fun
And laughed at Aba-Nazar's Humbug-Snarl
And bore me Grudges not a Single One.
For whom hurt Scrooge's sulks? Why, none but Me!
My Gloom abated not the Yuletide Glee.
I scowled - but all around was Merriment
And joysome Gifts beneath the Christmas-Tree.
And some who in the Coal-Mine laboured long,
And some, cast into Prison for their Wrong,
With little cause to Merry-Make, withal
Their voices raised in joyful Christmas-Song.
Then gone was jovial Christmas Present's ghost
But showed the Shades of those who needed most
Relief at Christmas: Want and Ignorance -
O Man, how little Cause thou hast to Boast!
And last, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
Showed Aba-Nazar what he would Become:
A chilly Corpse, his passing marked by none,
His least Possessions sold for trifling Sum!
While worse, poor Cratchit's tiny crippled Son
His earthly time untimely Told and Done:
O type of Poverty, whose Child
In Need of Help is cruelly granted None.
Now Aba-Nazar fell on Bended Knee
The Spirit to implore, in misery,
That Hope was not yet Fled, and Change of Way
Might turn aside the Day that Was To Be.
The Spirits I would Heed with ready Ear
And keep My Christmas, twelve whole Months each Year,
Take no more joy in closely-guarded Coin
But bring my Fellow-Man true Christmas Cheer.
Awake! ring Bells on snowy Christmas morn
And Aba-Nazar, like one newly Born,
Springs straightway from his Bed, and full of glee
Makes kindly Play to mark the brighter Dawn.
No more for Cratchit Christmas table Bare
Or graced alone with mean and meagre Fare:
A champion Turkey Aba-Nazar sends
For all his Friends and Family to share.
In Worship-House my Voice begin to raise
With fulsome heartfelt Christmas song of praise
Then heed at last my Nephew's call to dine
And so at last begin my Better Days
With Cratchit to be paid a Living Wage
And nurtured Tiny Tim to come of age
Repentance true in Aba-Nazar's heart
And on my Gloomy Past to turn the page:
Wherefore the tale of Aba-Nazar done
And with the words of Cratchit's tiny Son
Let us retire each our own Feast to make
This Christmas: "and God Bless Us, Every One".
Awake! For Winter on the Shortest Day
Flings playful Snowballs bidding Care away,
And lo! the Beech-log on the Hearth ablaze
Bids us prepare to make the Yule-tide Gay.
You all did know how I - the Famous Grouse -
Divorced old Humbug Christmas from my House,
Banished all Joy and Merriment alike
And took the Daughter of the Mine to Spouse.
Come now, with Aba-Nazar by the Fire
Roast Chestnuts; Hark to Music of the Choir;
Make merry Christmas Feast, and listen well
To Song which should the Souls of Men inspire.
For when old Marley - Dead this Seven Year -
Did in my very Chamber chill appear
His Aspect stern, forbidding, wretched, lost,
My spirit filled with well-deserved fear.
How had I left my Fellow-Man in Need
As Marley in his turn, consumed by Greed,
And cursed thereby to wander all the Earth
In Ghastly Shape - his warning I should heed -
And Spirits Three that night should Entertain
And well should List to, heedless of the Pain,
Of Present, Past and Future to Discern
And learn a Lesson greatly to my Gain.
Came Christmas Past, ablaze like Candle-Light,
The first of three great Spirits in one night
And led me miles and years and years away
Bringing my Boyhood Days before my sight.
As Schoolboy lone in School-House empty Sate
While Fellows all departed by the Gate
Yelling with glee, their Holiday begun,
But Merry Christmas was not Scrooge's Fate.
By his own Sire rejected and forgot,
Of pity and of comfort not one spot,
Joyless was Aba-Nazar left alone
And comfortless and heavy was his lot.
Yet grown to hearty Stripling merry made
With Fezziweg his Master's table laid
For Christmas Feast for all beneath his roof;
And might have won the heart of pretty maid -
But Aba-Nazar cared for naught but Gold
And so his Sweetheart, grieved for Love grown Cold,
Returned his Ring and bid him sad Fare-Well:
O, weep for Love and Marriage cheaply Sold!
Now jolly Christmas Giant, Torch a-Blaze,
Brought Merry Christmas of the Present Days
And showed Me many Sights of Rich and Poor
That fain could well the coldest Heart amaze.
For some - I tell you true: this is no Fable:
Could well Afford to set their Christmas-Table,
While others, lean of Face and Purse alike,
In spite of Same, did all that they were able.
As Cratchit set a Goose upon his Board
His Family dined as best they could afford
And toasted Aba-Nazar - not in Love,
But Duty-blessed My name before the LORD!
While Frederick, My Sister's only Son,
With guests made Sport and merry Games and Fun
And laughed at Aba-Nazar's Humbug-Snarl
And bore me Grudges not a Single One.
For whom hurt Scrooge's sulks? Why, none but Me!
My Gloom abated not the Yuletide Glee.
I scowled - but all around was Merriment
And joysome Gifts beneath the Christmas-Tree.
And some who in the Coal-Mine laboured long,
And some, cast into Prison for their Wrong,
With little cause to Merry-Make, withal
Their voices raised in joyful Christmas-Song.
Then gone was jovial Christmas Present's ghost
But showed the Shades of those who needed most
Relief at Christmas: Want and Ignorance -
O Man, how little Cause thou hast to Boast!
And last, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
Showed Aba-Nazar what he would Become:
A chilly Corpse, his passing marked by none,
His least Possessions sold for trifling Sum!
While worse, poor Cratchit's tiny crippled Son
His earthly time untimely Told and Done:
O type of Poverty, whose Child
In Need of Help is cruelly granted None.
Now Aba-Nazar fell on Bended Knee
The Spirit to implore, in misery,
That Hope was not yet Fled, and Change of Way
Might turn aside the Day that Was To Be.
The Spirits I would Heed with ready Ear
And keep My Christmas, twelve whole Months each Year,
Take no more joy in closely-guarded Coin
But bring my Fellow-Man true Christmas Cheer.
Awake! ring Bells on snowy Christmas morn
And Aba-Nazar, like one newly Born,
Springs straightway from his Bed, and full of glee
Makes kindly Play to mark the brighter Dawn.
No more for Cratchit Christmas table Bare
Or graced alone with mean and meagre Fare:
A champion Turkey Aba-Nazar sends
For all his Friends and Family to share.
In Worship-House my Voice begin to raise
With fulsome heartfelt Christmas song of praise
Then heed at last my Nephew's call to dine
And so at last begin my Better Days
With Cratchit to be paid a Living Wage
And nurtured Tiny Tim to come of age
Repentance true in Aba-Nazar's heart
And on my Gloomy Past to turn the page:
Wherefore the tale of Aba-Nazar done
And with the words of Cratchit's tiny Son
Let us retire each our own Feast to make
This Christmas: "and God Bless Us, Every One".
