Santa comes quietly long before dawn
While shops are still busy and lights are still on
While dinners are simmering and kitchens are warm
And children count presents they'll open by morn.
He slips past the trees and the windows aglow
Through the gate to the back yard as icy winds blow to find
the pup that he brought last year chained up in the snow and
kneeling he whispers, "Are you ready to go?"
There are too many stops like this one tonight
Before the beginning of his regular flight
He leaves not a note or a footprint in sight
Just an unbuckled collar on a cold Christmas night.
~ winner of the Maxwell Award for excellence in Poetry in 1998
from the Dog Writers Association of America.