It all starts tomorrow. So when you go to bed tonight …
.
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‘Twas the night before Trade Day, when all thro’ AFL house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a Dahlhaus;
The stock lists were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Jackets soon would be there;
The players were nestled all snug in their (or someone else’s) beds,
While visions of spongy floors danc’d in their heads,
And Mama in her ‘kerchief, and I in my Bomber’s cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long trade week’s nap-
When out on the turn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the premiership window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters, and threw up the taut red sash.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a sleigh, and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver, causing the racket,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Jackets.
More rapid than Saad his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and call’d them by name:
“Now! Parker, now! Shiel, now! Martin, and Setterfielder (or something like that),
“On! Bont, on! Kelly, on! Tyson and Gumby;
“To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
“Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
So up to the Marvel roof-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of deals - and St. Jackets too:
And then in a twinkling, I heard on the stadium roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Jackets came with a bound:
He was dress’d all in jackets, from his head to his foot,
And his jackets were all tarnish’d with ashes and soot;
A bundle of trades was flung on his back,
He had a broad face, and a little round belly
That shook when he laugh’d, like a bowl full of Colliwobble jelly:
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know we’d landed a spearhead.
He sprung to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew, like a Francis missile:
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out to the sun-
Happy trades to all, and Fark Carlton.