Most tangible of all the gods that be, <br />O Santa Claus-- our own since Infancy! <br />As first we scampered to thee-- now, as then, <br />Take us as children to thy heart again. <br /> <br />Be wholly good to us, just as of old: <br />As a pleased father, let thine arms infold <br />Us, homed within the haven of thy love, <br />And all the cheer and wholesomeness thereof. <br /> <br />Thou lone reality, when O so long <br />Life's unrealities have wrought us wrong: <br />Ambition hath allured us--, fame likewise, <br />And all that promised honor in men's eyes. <br /> <br />Throughout the world's evasions, wiles, and shifts, <br />Thou only bidest stable as thy gifts--: <br />A grateful king re-ruleth from thy lap, <br />Crowned with a little tinselled soldier-cap: <br /> <br />A mighty general-- a nation's pride-- <br />Thou givest again a rocking-horse to ride, <br />And wildly glad he groweth as the grim <br />Old jurist with the drum thou givest him: <br /> <br />The sculptor's chisel, at thy mirth's command, <br />Is as a whistle in his boyish hand; <br />The painters model fadeth utterly, <br />And there thou standest--, and he painteth thee--: <br /> <br />Most like a winter pippin, sound and fine <br />And tingling-red that ripe old face of thine, <br />Set in thy frosty beard of cheek and chin <br />As midst the snows the thaws of spring set in. <br /> <br />Ho! Santa Claus-- our own since Infancy-- <br />Most tangible of all the gods that be--! <br />As first we scampered to thee-- now, as then, <br />Take us as children to thy heart again.<br /><br />James Whitcomb Riley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-santa-claus/
