I snuck to the steps, clutching one of my bears.

What I saw down there took my breath away.

There sat old Santa, no suit and no sleigh.

He looked very tired, in overalls clad.

When I saw no presents, I thought I’d been bad.

“Sit down here, my child, and let me explain.”

He pulled from his pocket a small candy cane.

He’d eaten the cookies and finished the milk.

His beard was magnificent, white and like silk.

“All presents this year, and I’m trying to be kind,

are not in the physical realm, but the mind.

This grasping at store-bought rewards has to cease.

I’m trying to instill here instead a world peace.”

And then, on his shoulder, there landed a dove.

I noticed a neck tattoo that just said “Love.”

“I don’t have a present for you or your bear.

But what I will give you’s the power to care.

It’s what I am leaving, from Pompeii to Perth,

in hopes that this sentiment could change the earth.”

Then, blowing a kiss, up the chimney he fled.

“If this doesn’t work, next year you’ll get a sled.”