A Canoe Builders Christmas
Paraphrased by jjoven
on a poem by
By Stacy Smith - College Grove, Tennessee - USA
`Twas the night before Christmas
And all thru the shop
Not a project was finished
With no time to stop.
The oiled paddles dried
By the woodstove all day,
But the darned stuff, still sticky,
Just got in the way.
With me in my coveralls
And the cat on the floor…
(Duct tape blocked the wind
Through the crack in the door)
Had both agreed early
We'd fought the good fight,
But we knew it was going
To be a long night.
When under the hull
There arose such a clamor
I flattened the end of my thumb
With the hammer.
Searched for a weapon
I began to prattle ,
"Come out from there now,
Or I'll use this paddle!"
Then what to my bloodshot
Eyes should appear
But a crusty old canoeist
Picking dust from his ear.
His whiskers, how wiry;
His clothes, what a sight,
Wondered I, "Had the old
Fool been there all night?"
But the tools in his Cookes
Custom bag on the floor
Soon led me to know that
He'd seen canoes before
He spoke not a word -
With a grunt and a jerk,
He snatched up his tools
And went right to work.
Oh the Old Man was flying,
`Twas poetry, almost.
What manner of Messer-
About was this ghost?
The old codger made the
Shop tremble and quake
Fore, aft and abeam,
Raising dust in his wake.
He ripped and he planed,
And he sanded and shaved
Till the hull was so fair
I quipped, "Christmas is saved!"
With 'poxy he then covered
The hull with S glass
That canoe was glowing !
Like a diamond in a goats behind ;-0
Then as quick as he'd started
He bagged up his gear,
And wiping the fresh lump of
Goop from his ear,
He brought forth a flask
That he kept in his vest,
Then he sprinkled the bow,
And knocked back the rest.
We stood back and toasted
All lakes and rivers,
We cursed rocks and sweepers
And cold water shivers.
With a wink and a nod,
And then, moving the cat,
He propped up the bow of the
Boat as he sat.
"Keep paddling!" he said,
Crawling under the hull,
"Tho' we all must grow old,
We don't have to grow dull".
Then exclaimed from beneath
As he turned hard to eddy,
"If you can't paddle fast,
At least paddle steady!"
Paraphrased by jjoven
on a poem by
By Stacy Smith - College Grove, Tennessee - USA
`Twas the night before Christmas
And all thru the shop
Not a project was finished
With no time to stop.
The oiled paddles dried
By the woodstove all day,
But the darned stuff, still sticky,
Just got in the way.
With me in my coveralls
And the cat on the floor…
(Duct tape blocked the wind
Through the crack in the door)
Had both agreed early
We'd fought the good fight,
But we knew it was going
To be a long night.
When under the hull
There arose such a clamor
I flattened the end of my thumb
With the hammer.
Searched for a weapon
I began to prattle ,
"Come out from there now,
Or I'll use this paddle!"
Then what to my bloodshot
Eyes should appear
But a crusty old canoeist
Picking dust from his ear.
His whiskers, how wiry;
His clothes, what a sight,
Wondered I, "Had the old
Fool been there all night?"
But the tools in his Cookes
Custom bag on the floor
Soon led me to know that
He'd seen canoes before
He spoke not a word -
With a grunt and a jerk,
He snatched up his tools
And went right to work.
Oh the Old Man was flying,
`Twas poetry, almost.
What manner of Messer-
About was this ghost?
The old codger made the
Shop tremble and quake
Fore, aft and abeam,
Raising dust in his wake.
He ripped and he planed,
And he sanded and shaved
Till the hull was so fair
I quipped, "Christmas is saved!"
With 'poxy he then covered
The hull with S glass
That canoe was glowing !
Like a diamond in a goats behind ;-0
Then as quick as he'd started
He bagged up his gear,
And wiping the fresh lump of
Goop from his ear,
He brought forth a flask
That he kept in his vest,
Then he sprinkled the bow,
And knocked back the rest.
We stood back and toasted
All lakes and rivers,
We cursed rocks and sweepers
And cold water shivers.
With a wink and a nod,
And then, moving the cat,
He propped up the bow of the
Boat as he sat.
"Keep paddling!" he said,
Crawling under the hull,
"Tho' we all must grow old,
We don't have to grow dull".
Then exclaimed from beneath
As he turned hard to eddy,
"If you can't paddle fast,
At least paddle steady!"
