<html><head><style> body {height: 100%; color:#000000; font-size:12pt; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;}</style></head><body><div>Love this.</div><div>tom</div><div><br></div><div>----- Original Message -----<br>From: Warren Dietz <flyhihealey@gmail.com><br>To: BJ8Healeys <sbyers@ec.rr.com>, healeys@autox.team.net<br>Sent: Thu, 16 Dec 2021 05:15:59 -0500 (EST)<br>Subject: Re: [Healeys] FW: A COVID Christmas Poem<br></div><div><br></div><style><!--<br><div><br></div>@font-face<br> {font-family:"Cambria Math";<br> panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}<br>@font-face<br> {font-family:Calibri;<br> panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}<br><div><br></div>p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal<br> {margin:0in;<br> font-size:11.0pt;<br> font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}<br>a:link, span.MsoHyperlink<br> {mso-style-priority:99;<br> color:blue;<br> text-decoration:underline;}<br>p.xmsonormal, li.xmsonormal, div.xmsonormal<br> {mso-style-name:x_msonormal;<br> mso-style-priority:99;<br> margin:0in;<br> font-size:12.0pt;<br> font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}<br>.MsoChpDefault<br> {mso-style-type:export-only;}<br>@page WordSection1<br> {size:8.5in 11.0in;<br> margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}<br>div.WordSection1<br> {page:WordSection1;}<br>--></style><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal">“<span style="color: #1f497d;" data-mce-style="color: #1f497d;">This is so good, I just had to share it”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #1f497d;" data-mce-style="color: #1f497d;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #1f497d;" data-mce-style="color: #1f497d;">Yes it is! Thanks Steve.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">Sent from <a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986" target="_blank" data-mce-href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986">Mail</a> for Windows</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-top: solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt; padding: 3.0pt 0in 0in 0in;" data-mce-style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-top: solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt; padding: 3.0pt 0in 0in 0in;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0in;" data-mce-style="border: none; padding: 0in;"><b>From: </b><a href="mailto:sbyers@ec.rr.com" target="_blank" data-mce-href="mailto:sbyers@ec.rr.com">BJ8Healeys</a><br><b>Sent: </b>Wednesday, December 15, 2021 8:41 PM<br><b>To: </b><a href="mailto:healeys@autox.team.net" target="_blank" data-mce-href="mailto:healeys@autox.team.net">healeys@autox.team.net</a><br><b>Subject: </b>[Healeys] FW: A COVID Christmas Poem</p></div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div><div style="border: none; border-top: solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt; padding: 3.0pt 0in 0in 0in;" data-mce-style="border: none; border-top: solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt; padding: 3.0pt 0in 0in 0in;"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #1f497d;" data-mce-style="color: #1f497d;">From a friend in Canada. This is so good, I just had to share it.</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" data-mce-style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"></span></p></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" data-mce-style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> </span></p><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 12.0pt; color: black;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" data-mce-style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"></span></p></div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 12.0pt; color: black;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" data-mce-style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"></span></p></div><div><div><div><div><blockquote style="margin-top: 5.0pt; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;" data-mce-style="margin-top: 5.0pt; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><div><blockquote style="margin-top: 5.0pt; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;" data-mce-style="margin-top: 5.0pt; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><div><div><div><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;"> </span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">A Covid Christmas Poem</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;"> </span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Twas the night before Christmas, but Covid was here,</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">So we all had to stay extra cautious this year.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Our masks were all hung by the chimney with care</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">In case Santa forgot his and needed a spare.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">With Covid, we couldn't leave cookies or cake</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">So we left Santa hand sanitizer to take.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">The children were sleeping, the brave little tots</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">The ones over 5 had just had their first shots,</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">And mom in her kerchief and me in my cap</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Had just settled in for a long winter's nap.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">But we tossed and we turned all night in our beds</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">As visions of variants danced in our heads.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Gamma and Delta and now Omicron</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">These Covid mutations that go on and on</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">I thought to myself, "If this doesn't get better,</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">I'll soon be familiar with every Greek letter".</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Then just as I started to drift off and doze</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">A clatter of noise from the front lawn arose.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">I leapt from my bed and ran straight down the stair</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">I opened the door, and an old gent stood there.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">His N 95 made him look pretty weird</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">But I knew who he was by his red suit and beard.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">I kept six feet away but blurted out quick</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">" What are you doing here, jolly Saint Nick?"</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Then I said, "Where's your presents, your reindeer and sleigh ?</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Don't you know that tomorrow will be Christmas Day? ".</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">And Santa stood there looking sad in the snow</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">As he started to tell me a long tale of woe.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">He said he'd been stuck at the North Pole alone</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">All his white collar elves had been working from home,</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">And most of the others said "Santa, don't hire us!</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">We can live off the CERB now, thanks to the virus".</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Those left in the toyshop had little to do.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">With supply chain disruptions, they could make nothing new.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">And as for the reindeer, they'd all gone away.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">None of them left to pull on his sleigh.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">He said Dasher and Dancer were in quarantine,</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Prancer and Vixen refused the vaccine,</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Comet and Cupid were in ICU,</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">So were Donner and Blitzen, they may not pull through.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">And Rudolph's career can't be resurrected.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">With his shiny red nose, they all think he's infected.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Even with his old sleigh, Santa couldn't go far.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Every border to cross needs a new PCR.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Santa sighed as he told me how nice it would be</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">If children could once again sit on his knee.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">He couldn't care less if they're naughty or nice</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">But they'd have to show proof that they'd had their shot twice.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">But then the old twinkle returned to his eyes.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">And he said that he'd brought me a Christmas surprise.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">When I unwrapped the box and opened it wide,</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Starlight and rainbows streamed out from inside.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Some letters whirled round and flew up to the sky</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">And they spelled out a word that was 40 feet high.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">There first was an H, then an O, then a P,</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Then I saw it spelled HOPE when it added the E.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">"Christmas magic" said Santa as he smiled through his beard.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Then suddenly all of the reindeer appeared.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">He jumped into his sleigh and he waved me good-bye,</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Then he soared o'er the rooftops and into the sky.</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">"Get your vaccines my friends, Merry Christmas, good-night".</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;">Then I went back to bed and a sweet Christmas dream</span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;">Of a world when we'd finished with Covid 19.</span></p><div><p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;"> </span></p></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div></blockquote></div></div></div></div></div><p class="xmsonormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in;" data-mce-style="mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;" data-mce-style="font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;"><br>Joseph David</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" data-mce-style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> </span></p></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></body></html>