The Santa Sans Festive Gears Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

Flowing white beard, nor happy cheers,
Pot-bellied nor with trademark gears,
Clear of set symbols Santa appears,
No reined-in reindeer his cart steers.

In a red beret jacket that night,
No one sees a kindly old man,
But a diminutive woman—
Blue jeans, black scarf sharp winds to fight!

A Secret Santa1 all so rare,
Care, concern writ large on her face,
No vague, festive commercial air,
She showed genuine feminine grace.

Well past many a goodly mall,
Wherein festive spirit seemed loud,
All hotels posh and passable,
Laudable, lost she looks in crowd.

Oh, there can't be enough, she sighs,
Spotting a poor at a bus stand,
As a girl to her frail bosom be-ties,
She's handed a bill— hundred Rand,

As Merry Christmas to her says,
One was taken to a doctor,
Of two being raised without ways,
Yet, a smile sprawls all over her.

Thanks to Larry's1 heart-felt efforts,
Angels in a nation-wide dash,
Busy helping folks with small cash
O to reach crowds of needy hearts.

Subtlety in a world of splash,
A Santa sans all festive gears
Handing over small ready cash
That earned rare smiles if not loud cheers.
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1. One, Larry Stewart, gave away some $1.5 million over 26 years before dying of cancer in 2007. It was his idea to start a Secret Santa campaign to help with ready cash to the needy on Christmas.
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Happenings | 03.12.10 |