CHRISTMAS IN SPACE: THE PREVIOUS GENERATION
- 'Tas the night before Christmas, when all through the decks
- Not a crewman was stirring, 'cept those having sex;
- Their boots were all placed by the vent shafts with care,
- In hopes that by morning they'd get some fresh air.
- The Redshirts were nestled all snug in their beds,
- While visions of stay'ng alive danced in their heads;
- And Kirk in his gold shirt, McCoy in his blue,
- Had just settled down for a nice Christmas brew--
- When from the comm panel there came such a wail,
- They sprang from their chairs, knocking over their ale.
- Away to the panel Kirk flew, drenched in beer,
- Snapped on the comm switch and barked loudly, "Kirk here!"
- The squeals that emerged from the thing after that
- Sounded just like the Devil was strangling a cat;
- When, what to their bombarded ears should appear,
- But the music of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,"
- With a voice in the background, a murmur of talk,
- That made Kirk exclaim, "Bones . . . That sounds just like Spock."
- More rapid than bullets his syllables came
- As he tested each circuit and called it by name--
- "Cross Alpha to Beta, join Delta to Theta,
- Route Kappa through Lamba, and Gamma to Zeta.
- To the end of the circuit, the end of the line,
- Now clip a resistor--there. That should do fine."
- As Kirk and McCoy listened closely to this,
- The comm unit speaker let out a long hiss.
- So, off to the turbolift both of them flew,
- With a mind to discover what Spock was up to.
- And then, in a twinkling, they reached the bridge deck,
- Stepped out of the lift and began a quick check.
- As they went down the steps and were looking around,
- From a nook Spock emerged, barely making a sound.
- He was all dressed in gray from his head to his foot,
- And his clothes were all tarnished with solder and soot.
- A bag of components he had in one fist,
- And held in the other, a rather long list.
- His eyes didn't twinkle, his dimples were none,
- Yet somehow it looked like he'd been having fun.
- His mouth, at one corner, quirked up just a touch,
- And one eyebrow lifted, though not by too much.
- A soldering iron he held in his teeth,
- And the smoke from it circled his head like a wreath.
- He looked like a man with a task to complete
- And nothing would stop him, not rain, snow, nor sleet.
- His two colleagues stood there, dumbfounded by this.
- McCoy chuckled softly; Kirk let out hiss.
- The look in Spock's eye and the set of his head
- Soon gave them to know he would not go to bed.
- He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
- And tuned all the sensors then turned back to Kirk,
- And pressing a button and counting to three,
- He lit up the bridge like a huge Christmas Tree.
- His work done, he nodded, and walked toward the lift
- As his friends stared in awe at his luminous gift.
- But they heard him exclaim, his voice with good-will rife,
- "Merry Christmas! And to you all, Peace and Long Life!"
Based on "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement C. Moore. Adaptation
Copyright 1991, Eric R. Rountree