“The Other Night Before Christmas”

"The Other Night Before Christmas" 

By: Diane Boyd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

T'was the night before Christmas

When all through the woods,

Eight lean wolves were hunting for warm meaty goods.
They searched far and wide and they gave it their best,
But came up with nothing and lay down to rest.

They slept on snowdrifts, noses tucked into tails,
White frost on their muzzles, backs turned to the gales,
When, up in the sky, there appeared a weird vision:
An old man, a sleigh and a banquet of venison.

Past dancing northern lights, they dropped from the sky,
Touched down on the snow - they were going to come by!
The wolves, lay in wait, not daring to breathe,
"Here comes a great gift, and hooves for our wreath."

"Now Dasher! Now Dancer! Now Prancer and Vixen!..."
The wolves crouched prepared, for the feast they were fixin'.
As the sleigh drew along side, wolves burst from the trees.
It was all said and done 'fore the old man could sneeze.

The wolves acted on instinct - now bellies distended,
With no thoughts of Christmas their actions had ended.
Then they heard a strange sound and looked at the sled.
Old Santa was crying, "My reindeer are dead!"
How will I deliver all my beautiful toys
To needy, deserving, hopeful, good girls and boys?

It then dawned on the wolves they had done something bad,
And, amidst some loud burping, all felt very sad.

So they huddled together and discussed as a pack 
How to help Santa deliver the gifts in his sack.
Alpha brightened a bit and started to howl
"I've got it!" - as reindeer hair fell from his jowl.
"We will fit in the harness, we will pull that old sleigh.
Yes, Christmas will happen! Let's get Santa on his way!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now Santa was hesitant to work with deer slayers,
But accepting the offer, he hitched up the players.
They loped, ran, and flew around the world that whole night;
The wolves really dug it, Santa beamed with delight.
"You wolves really know how to cover the miles,"
And Santa envisioned, come morning, kids' smiles.

"Your soft feet are so quiet, no clatter of hooves
Like those noisy old reindeer on hard frozen roofs."
Near the end of the route Santa had a strange thought,
"This is better than those flighty reindeer I fought."

He said to himself, "Who the heck needs to know?"
So he turned to the wolves, their gold eyes aglow,
And asked them quite frankly "What'cha doing next year?"
The wolves shyly replied "We will pull for more deer."

Now my friend, you be watching for Santa next year, 
To see if he has teamed up with wolves or with deer!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This poem was first printed in the Winter 1994 issue of International Wolf Magazine.

At the time, wolf biologist Diane Boyd was pursuing a PhD at the University of Montana.