The Night Before HUST

Adapted from the Night Before Christmas by Henry Livingston

'Twas the hours before our last class together, when all through the dorms


Not a resident was stirring, not even a nun;

The grades were hung on blackboard with care,


In hopes that an A soon would be there;



The students were nestled all snug in their beds,


While visions of Omishito and Lucy danced in their heads;



And Desdemona without her 'kerchief, and my pen missing its cap,


Dillard had just settled in the cabin for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,


Sanjeev sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window Gilman creeped like a freak,


Tore down the yellow wallpaper and threw up the coward.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen rain

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,


But a miniature Virgin, and five hundred pounds,



With a little old parson, so lively and quick,


I knew in a moment it must be Hugo.



More rapid than hawks his accusations they came,


And the crowd whistled, and shouted, and called Odin by name;


"Now, Manus! now, Sarah! now, Jimmy Jack and Maire!


On, Doalty! on Bridget! on, Hugh and Owen!



To Baile Beag! to Ballybeg we must!


Now read away! read away! read away all!"



As deer do during the wild hurricane… fly,


When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,



So up to the close-reading the students they flew,


With the blogs full of insight, and L. Ambrose too.


 

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof


The prancing and pawing of each little thought.

As Sanders drew Indiana down, and was turning around,


Down the chimney HUST 103 came with a bound.



They were dressed all in sleep, from their heads to their ‘foots’,


And their clothes were all tarnished with deep thoughts and soot;



A bundle of questions they had flung on their backs,


And they looked like hikers just opening their packs.



Thier eyes -- how they twinkled! their dimples not many!


Their cheeks were like roses, their noses like cherries!



Their droll little mouths were drawn up like bows,


And the outside of their coats were as white as the snows;



The stump of a pipe no one had tight in their teeth,


And the thoughts they encircled their heads like a wreath;



Maybe a broad face or a little round belly,


That shook, when they laughed like a bowlful of jelly.



They were chubby not plump, some right jolly young elfs’,


And She laughed when She saw them, in spite of herself;



A wink of her eye and a twist of her head,


Soon let them to know they had nothing to dread;



They spoke a few words, but went straight to their work,


And filled all their notebooks; then turned with a jerk,



And laying their pens aside of the books,


And giving a nod, up the chimney they rose;



They sprang to their rides, to their drivers they gave a whistle,


And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.



But I heard them exclaim, ere they drove out of sight,


"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

[I really enjoyed class, the blogs, the readings, it all seemed to go by so fast. ]