When, but a child
I was told quite a story
Of a man who gave gifts
Reminding all of God’s glory

He was not ruled by space
Nor tied down by hour
He gave each good gifts
And challenged the sour

Yet as I grew older
I questioned the man
It seemed, as I thought
Rationality should ban

A man with such powers
A man without proof
Who fits inside chimneys
Who walks on my roof

And now I, so wise
Could tell each poor friend
Of the truth about him
So the poor ruse could end

With so great a knowledge
Of false reality
I could glorify Christ
With my greed below tree

Yet as my time went on
I discovered a truth
That much of my faith
Also lacked “proof”

If I applied the standard
I had questioned Nick with
It seemed my foundation
Looked likewise like myth

I searched and I questioned
And in Lord’s mercy found
The unshakable truth
Of a gospel passed down

I stand with my eyes
Fixed on God now seen
As He comes unto man
In nativity scene

He changes men’s lives
Into love most pure
It is what we most lack
His cross-flavored cure

And what irony
Now humbled, as I’ve earned
That with Christ’s family
Nicholas has returned

For once again I believe
In a man through told-tales
About his charitous life
Mercy that never fails

Revealed to his flock
As a rule of faith true
Humility and abstinence
To enrich me and you

Glorified in Christ
Beyond space and time
I now ask him to pray
For gifts so sublime

I’d never have thought
I’d believe once again
In a real Santa Claus
St Nicholas in the end

I wrote this poem after I realized how funny it is that I started out living as if this man Santa Claus was real, and then I lived like he was dead, and then he was alive again as St Nicholas. I decided this “resurrection” deserved some sort of writing, and it became this poem. I snuck part of the Troparion of St Nicholas into the poem near the end:

In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith,
an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence;
your humility exalted you;
your poverty enriched you.
Hierarch Father Nicholas,
entreat Christ our God
that our souls may be saved.