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