This post is in response to the ‘100 Word Challenge’ prompt here, where there are links to the other responses. I really struggled with this one. Then I remembered how I’d been thinking about all the people whose jobs require them to work ‘unsocial hours’ for the sake of the rest of us. Doctors and nurses, fire, ambulance, and police personnel, and all those who keep our public services going – something often taken for granted. There will have been some children, somewhere, who might have said something like the first verse of my little poem, on Christmas eve.
“‘Twas the night before Christmas, and our Dad was just home
When his mobile rang again.
He kissed our Mum, then back outside
He went, in the pouring rain.”
Dave, the foreman, took a call, the other side of town:
“…When you’re done, go straight to Bridge Street, somewhere near ‘The Rose and Crown.’
The pub and fifteen houses are off supply, they say
The section engineer’s already on the way.”
Engineers and gangers worked through that dreadful night;
A fault repair was made without delay.
A cheer went up as lights came on in Bridge Street
And festive fare got cooked on Christmas Day.
Edit, Christmas Day, 2014:
I’ve just remembered this post as I was thinking about all the people who will have been working today, and how much we have to be thankful for, here in the UK and so many more countries. So now, I’m linking this post to ‘The Prompt’ here, which is themed on the single word ‘Christmas’.
