Today is Sinterklaas in the Netherlands and I wanted to do a nicely festive post, something a liittle seasonal yet with none of that racist Zwarte Piet nonsense. No, we’ll celebrate the proper way, with squid.
So here for your delectation and delight is a molluscan reworking of Dickens*.from reclusive poet The Digital Cuttlefish. This blog’s nothing iif not multicultural.
A Squidmas Carol
It was late December, down in the bathysphere,
And the holiday spirit was anywhere but here.
Half a mile down it’s as black as ink
No room to move, but there’s time to think
How I miss, how I miss that topside squidmas cheer!You can’t “Fa-la-la” with a rad-u-la, my darling
You can’t “Fa-la-la” with a rad-u-la, my dear.
And that star so bright—
It made you flip your lid?
It’s the photophoric action of the firefly squid
It’s the way we know that squidmastime is here!Every night down here is a silent, silent night
And I’m glad the doors and windows are closed real tight
There’s a noise on the roof, but I know the truth is
It’s the long, long arms of the architeuthis
No sled, no reindeer, no reason for delight…[…]
You can keep your sled and your eight tiny reindeer
It’s squidmastime in my tiny bathysphere
You can envy me in your world above
‘Cos I’m spending squidmas in the place I love
Merry Squidmas, and a wonderful New Year!
*Well, at least the title is Dickensian.
