'Twas the night before Christmas
in an unknown town,
and an old man nicknamed “Coop”
had sat himself down.
He'd gotten his mail and through
it all he did sift,
and each bill-like letter
made him look a bit miffed.
He set them aside
and chose instead to read through
the cards he'd been sent that had
pictures in them too.
Ones with friends he hadn't seen
for quite a long while.
Seeing those old faces with
fam'lies made him smile.
Some cards let him know who
was still hanging around,
while others let him know
who was now in the ground.
Such things were the norm when one
reached his advanced years.
But his mem'ries of them helped
him through any tears.
At the end of each card was,
“Merry Christmas Coop!”
A name he had earned
from a mishap with the group
of friends he grew up with
who were there on the day
the chickens his parents owned
had all run away.
He'd left the chicken coop door
open by mistake,
and quite a bit of trouble
is what it did make.
For two days, he