Christmas
1995 in Malongo.
The Night before Christmas
With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore
Written in Malongo December 1995
It
was the night before Christmas and all through the camp.
It
was bucketing rain and all things were damp.
The
cicadas and crickets were making such noise.
No
kids in this place, just a lot of big boys.
Then
a flash and a whoosh, up in the sky.
A
bright sleigh and reindeer is passing close by.
The
bar had been closed for three hours or more.
While
the rain in deluge from the sky it did pour.
The
sleigh came in safely, I’m glad to report.
And
made a beautiful landing in the heliport.
Not
a soul stirred, no one had seen him arrive.
Except
the mosquitoes, he was being eaten alive.
Of
course it was Santa who’d just found that berth.
And
of course it’s Malongo, the end of the earth.
He
looked quickly round and thought what a hole.
Come Dacher and Dancer, get us back to the North
Pole.
They
sped away quickly away from that area.
And
after twenty-one days he came down with malaria.
But
on that rainy night as they sped away North.
Santa
looked back and he issued forth.
This
place that you work, it fills me with grief.
I’m
sorry my visit of necessity was brief.
But
on this Christmas day, with this wish I will go.
Soon
you’ll be back with your loved ones I know.
So
just for the present make the most of your plight.
And
to you all Happy Christmas, and a very good night.
Christmas in Equatorial
Africa falls in the middle of the very hottest and wettest time of the year.
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