THE CHRISTMAS FAIRY

It was late Christmas eve
And I in my chair
Was feeling most mellow
    and joyful and rare.
The tree lights were blinking
    in lightful design
And a gentle white snow
made the evening divine.

I dozed in past thoughts
with wine glass in hand,
To be truthful, unsure
of how long a span,
But then awoke slowly
     With eyes open slight 
To see an amusing
and wonderful sight.

There by a high branch
of my Christmas tree
I saw, in a dither,
a petite fairy.
She fluttered around
    in heartful delight
And inspected, in turn,
    each bright colored light.

As she hovered before each
small light that shown
Those bobbles stopped blinking,
it seemed on their own.
And then when she moved
     to the next brilliant sight
Another stopped blinking
within the dim night.

So each light in turn
    she visited there
With a swiftness and manor
    I thought truly rare
Until finally at last
    all of the lights
Shown brilliant and steady
    to my old eyesight

She then rearranged
    the gifts as they lay
Which I guess made her feel
    quite hungry that day
for she then hesitated
    by Santa’s snack plate
Where sweet milk and cookies
    she joyfully ate.

Then coyly she hovered
    right next to my chair
Where glinted reflections
    in her golden hair,
And studied the gifts
    and the brilliant tree
And looked a bit sideways
    to glance upon me.

Then ever so gently
    she fluttered near me
And caressed my rough cheek
    with no fear to see
Then flew to the fireplace
    where flames had died down
And then for a moment
    she slowly turned ‘round.

To review her work
and the tree now repaired,
With a curtsy and bow
And contentment shared,
She whisked up that chimney
     perhaps, I might guess,
To battle the wicked
witch of the west.

Sense that night the fairy
    had visited me
And prepared and adjusted
    my gifts and small tree
I make it a point
    to stay up quite late
To leave cookies and milk
    on a small plate

And now my decorations
    are never exact
‘cause I feel confident
    and pleased in the fact
That if she returns
    on some Christmas night
I’ll welcome that fairy
    of charm and delight.

  ~Robert E. Browne~