A POEM by Paul Curtis,
BASED ON THE STORY by
Charles Dickens “A
CHRISTMAS CAROL”
VERSE 6 – A VISIT TO
FRED’S
They stood outside a
house were laughter emanated
Then he and the spirit
into the house they permeated
It was a bright, gay,
gleaming room that met their view
To his surprise the
laughter came from his nephew
Scrooge stood with the
Spirit who was smiling happily
Looking at Scrooge’s
nephew with approving affability
“Ha, ha!” laughed
Scrooge's nephew. “Ha, ha, ha!”
It would be hard to
find a man to laugh heartier
If a man more blessed
in a laugh than his nephew
Existed then Scrooge
would want to know him too
His head rolled and he
shook his ample proportions
And twisted his face
into extravagant contortions
Scrooge's niece, by
marriage, laughed as heartily as he
And their assembled
friends also roared out lustily
“Ha, ha, ha, ha!” “He
said that,” cried his nephew
“Christmas was a
humbug, as I live! He believed it too.”
“More shame for him,
Fred.” said his wife indignantly
Scrooge forgave her,
as she was exceedingly pretty
With a dimpled peaches
and cream complexion
And a smile that gave
her the sunniest disposition
“He's a comical old
fellow,” said Fred affectionately
“That’s the truth: and
not as pleasant as he might be.
However, his offenses
carry their own punishment,
And I have nothing to
say against him in testament”
Then his wife said
“I'm sure he is very rich, Fred,”
“At least you always
tell me that is so.” She hinted
Fred said to her in
reply “What of that, my dear?”
“His wealth is of
absolutely no use to him at all I fear”
Fred continued “He
doesn't do any good with it.
And he doesn't make
himself comfortable with it.
He hasn't even the
satisfaction of thinking so far
That he is ever going
to benefit us with it” ha, ha, ha!
“I have no patience
with him,” Scrooges niece said
Her sisters, and the
ladies, expressed the same to Fred
“Oh, I have” Fred said
to everyone with some pride
I’m sorry for him I
couldn't be angry with him if I tried
After all who is it
who really suffers by his ill whim?”
Answering his own
question Fred said “Always him”
Here, Uncle Scrooge
takes it into his head to dislike us,
And he won't come and
dine with us every Christmas.
And the result? He
misses out on a moderate dinner”
Fred said to the room
smiling broadly like a sinner
“I think he loses out
on a very good dinner, indeed”
Interrupted his wife
and everyone in the room agreed
“Well. I'm very glad
to hear it,” he said of his slurs
“Because I lack faith
in these young housekeepers”
Pausing for a hearty
laugh “What do you say, Topper?”
Topper clearly had his
eye on the little plump sister
He answered what a
wretched outcast was a bachelor
With no right to an
opinion on the subject set before
His obvious admiration
went from her hair to her boots
Where upon the plump
niece blushed to her roots
“Do go on, Fred,” his
wife said with hands clapping
Scrooge's nephew reveled
in another fit of laughing
He stifled the laugh
and said, “I was only going to say
That the consequence
of his taking dislike to us this way
And not making merry
with us, is, that he loses many
Pleasant moments,
which could do him no harm surely.
Losing pleasanter
companions than he can find ever
In his thoughts,
either in his office or his chamber
So I mean to give him
the same chance every year,
Whether he likes it or
not, for I pity my uncle dear.
He may rail at
Christmas all he likes until he dies
But year after year I
will continue until he complies”
The festivities
continued with the happy company
Merriment abounded and
the bottle passed joyously
After tea they had
music with songs about the piano
Fred wife played well
on the harp tunes from long ago
With the music Scrooge
recalled what he had seen
What the Ghost had
shown him and where he’d been
It all came upon his
mind all what had gone before
And with the gay music
he softened more and more
But they didn't devote
the whole evening to music
Topper was encouraged
to perform a magic trick
Then they played
parlor games for amusement
First blind man’s
bluff caused such great merriment
With topper clearly
cheating as pursued high and low
The plump sister
catching her beneath the mistletoe
Blind-man’s buff was
not the game for Scrooges niece
Who was comfortably in
a corner safe and in peace
With footstool and
large comfy chair in a snug corner
Where the Ghost and
Scrooge were close behind her
But she however
excelled when she joined in forfeits
And warmed Scrooges
heart and raised his spirits
She beat them all
hollow from her large comfy chair
And likewise at the
game of How, When, and Where
There might have been
twenty people there present
Young and old, but
they all joined in the merriment
Even Scrooge, who
forgot he wasn’t there at the party
And shouted the
answers ever more loud and hearty
But despite Scrooge
quite often getting the answers
Often very loudly his
voice made no sound in their ears
This didn’t bother him
and he didn’t think it to be rude
The Ghost was very
pleased to find him in this mood
Scrooge intimated that
he would be broken hearted
If he were not allowed
to stay until the guests departed
But this the Spirit
told Scrooge could not be done
“One more game,” said
Scrooge. “Please Spirit, only one.”
So they stayed for one
more Game called Yes and No
And when the game was
over it was time for them to go
Before Scrooges eyes
the room before him unravels
And he and the Spirit
were again upon their travels.
VERSE 7 – ABROAD AGAIN
Much they saw, and far
they went, people to attend
Many homes they
visited, but always a happy end
The Spirit stood by
sick beds, and they were cheerful
Comforting the old and
frail and those who were fearful
On foreign lands, and
at home; beside struggling men,
Those patient in their
hope; by poverty, and rich again
In almshouse,
hospital, workhouse treadmill and jail
In misery's every
refuge where people try and fail
Where vain man in his
little brief authority no doubt
Had not made fast the
door and barred the Spirit out
He left his blessing,
and taught Scrooge his precepts.
And not lost on
Scrooge were the spirits concepts
It was a long night,
if only a night which he doubted
Scrooge had now seen
his error and his heart shouted
It was strange, that
while Scrooge appeared unaltered
The Ghost grew older,
clearly and his voice faltered.
Scrooge had seen this
change, but never spoke of it,
Until leaving a
children's party he addressed the spirit
“Are spirits' lives so
short?” he asked gravely his host
“My life on this
globe, is very brief,” replied the Ghost
“It ends to-night.” It
said and Scrooge replied “To-night!”
“My time upon this
earth ends To-night at midnight
The time draws near.”
He said neath the clock tower
“Hark!” and the chimes
rang a quarter to the hour
“Forgive me for
asking” said Scrooge in puzzlement
He was looking
intently at the spirits long garment
“But I see something
strange down there on the floor
Protruding from your
skirts. Is it a foot or a claw?”
“It might be a claw,
for all the flesh there is on it,”
Was its sorrowful
reply. “Look here.” Said the spirit
From the folds of its
robe, it brought two creatures
Children, wretched,
abject, with frightful features
They knelt down at its
feet, and clung on in fear
“Oh, Man, look here!
Look, look, down here!”
Exclaimed the Ghost.
To Scrooge who was nervous
It was a boy and girl
though it was not obvious
“Spirit, are they
yours?” Scrooge could say no more.
“They are Man's,” It
said looking at them on the floor
“Appealing from their
fathers they cling to me there
This boy is Ignorance.
This girl is Want. So beware”
His voice was grave
and solemn and held no joy
“Beware them both, but
most of all beware this boy
For on his brow I see
that the word doom is written
Unless the writing be
erased beware these children”
The spirit cried stretching
its hand toward the city
“If you deny it! Or
slander those who tell it to ye.
Admit it for your
factious purposes, or defend
And then make it
worse. And you will abide the end.”
“Have they no refuge
or resource?” Scrooge cried.
“Are there no
prisons?” ironically the Spirit replied,
“Are there no
workhouses?” for the very last time
Using his own words on
him at the midnight chime
At the stroke of the
bell Scrooge looked all about
But the ghost was gone
he was alone without doubt
As the last stroke ceased,
he lifted up his eyes to see
He suddenly remembered
the prediction of Marley
And beheld a solemn
draped and hooded apparition
Coming, like a mist
along the ground, in his direction
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