Klaas
Photo by Keith Raymier Ayuman
He was a stout dude in red.
He is generous, they said.
His hair, his beard so white.
With gifts he drops at night.
Gifts for children who’re nice.
Be bad and there’s no surprise.
Growing up, this stout red guy,
May have nothing to buy,
Nothing was inside the socks
Nor the Christmas tree, it sucks.
That childhood stories
Has run through centuries.
It started with a man named Nicholas.
A well-off man, he really was.
Not just that, he’s a kind man.
Giving gifts, known by no one.
Saved three gals from slavery,
Providing them three dowries.
No wonder, he’s made a saint.
He too helped sailors in constraint.
Circa 1500, Nicholas no more.
Traditions of him were all before.
For years, his story has gone afar,
And became oddly unpopular.
Come 1700s, the legend went back.
Saint Nicholas has made a new track.
New name for the dude — Sinter Klaas.
Shorter name for the Dutch, Sint Nikolaas.
English named him Father Christmas,
Others said, he’s the Old Man Chrsitmas.
From Sinter Klaas to Santa Claus,
Gift-giving has never come to a pause.
In the 1800s, everyone’s going abuzz.
Santa Claus was making a lot of fuzz.
Traditions like leaving clogs or shoes out,
Gives every children fun Christmas blowouts.
The stout red old man came to picture.
From the creative man, Clarke Moore.
Wrote the poem, “Twas the Night before Christmas”
Transformed the look of Saint Nicholas.
He is now our Santa ferried by his eight reindeers
Dropping chimneys with gifts for the children dear.
That’s a good short history,
To one of the icons that makes Christmas merry.
Inspiring every generation,
The happiness of reciprocation.
May this yearly occasion,
Brings joy to world of non-fiction.
