Books Unleashed in Christmas Carrels

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On this Christmas day, I want to acknowledge one of the greatest gifts I ever received from my parents: my love of reading.  Both are voracious readers, and my father (Scott Bates) would read to me and my brothers every evening.  This included, for each of us, both a story or chapter and a poem.  We did not have a television so we centered our imaginative life in books.

My father writes wonderful light verse, and every year the family Christmas card has one of his poems.  He’s allowing me to share the following one with you (written in 1974), which alludes to many of the books that he read to us. See how many of the books you recognize.  I’ll provide a key in Monday’s post.

Incidentally, he wrote the poem in memory of Stratton Buck, his long-time colleague in the Sewanee French Department who died around Christmas time.  It appears in the self-published Merry Green Peace, a collection of Christmas poems.

A Christmas Carrel

When the students have departed
For a sunny southern beach
Leaving teachers broken-hearted
Without anyone to teach
When the classrooms are deserted
And the halls are cold and blue
Oh the library’s disconcerted
Without anything to do

        Oh the library’s dark and empty
        Like a sock without a shoe

But what’s this Listen Look
There’s a murmur in the stacks
There’s a glimmer in a book
And it’s coming through the cracks
You can hear the Xerox mutter
At the laughter in the stair
All the file cards are a-flutter
There’s a party in the air

        There’s a stir in Circulation
        And it’s spreading everywhere

                All our friends from all the ages
                Slip out of their printed pages
                Filling all the empty spaces
                With their own familiar faces

Here comes Leerie lighting lanterns
Down the desert aisles
Through the Toll Booth come the Phantoms
Cheshire Cat’s all smiles
Down the chimney Chimes are ringing
Tom pipes up a tune
While on the heart the Cricket’s singing
Hits from Brigadoon

        The Owl and the Pussycat are dancing
        In the Reading Room

The Selfish Giant opens castle
Passes out free ale
Mr. Pickwick mixing wassail
Stops to tell a tale
Meadow Mice are singing carols
Ratty cuts the cheese
While Long John Silver rolls out barrels—
Rum from pirate seas!

        Uncle Remus and Br’er Rabbit
        Have rum with their black-eyed peas

Now the party’s getting merry
Toby flips his wig
Peggotty and Ham are very
Glad to dance a jig
Friday’s fixing creole gumbo
Scrooge eats goose and glows
Sancho Panza does a rhumba
With the Pobble That Has No Toes

        While high on the top of the First Christmas Tree
        Shines the Dong with the Luminous Nose

But all good times must have an ending
Leerie snuffs the lights
Back to storied halls are wending
Ladies with their knights
Back they go to Magic Island
Cave and Hollow Tree
Jungle Book and Scottish Highland
To live adventurously

        Until they meet again next year
        In Christmas revelry.

You can get a sense of how fun Christmases were with my father.  Merry Christmas to you all.

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