The Dirigible Balloon
Poetry for Children

Two Santa Poems from Carmen

a Romanian poem and a poem in English

Listen to Carmen ... : )
Ca să ştiți (Just so you know)

Ca să ştiți

“Marea-i singurul loc unde Moş Crăciun
Nu vine s-aducă niciun dar!”
Le-a zis într-o zi un barbun
Unui hering şi unui țipar.
“Și asta se-ntâmplă, presupun,
Că nu-l așteptăm cum se cuvine!
Nu cântăm colinde-n ajun,
Nu-l momim nici măcar cu sardine.”
Și-au și-nceput organizarea.
(Pentru ei n-a fost marea cu sarea!)
Au împodobit un recif de corali
Cu steluțe de mare, cu pești tropicali,
Cu beteală de alge și cu pești blob.
Ba chiar au făcut și-un… scrânciob!
Au chemat sirena să cânte-o colindă,
L-au rugat să se care pe rechin,
Au pus niște GloFish să se aprindă
Și… surpriză!, a apărut un submarin!
(Tras de reni cu tuburi de-oxigen.)
Și Moșu’,-n costum roșu de neopren,
“Hou, hou!”, a ieşit pe hublou
Şi n-a fost peşte să nu primească un cadou!
Ceea ce e chiar un miracol!



Ca să știți, dragi copii, că de sărbători, pentru Moș nu există obstacol!


Santa Claus

If Santa’s image in your mind
Is always generous and kind,
You need to know that’s not quite true:
Santa can be obnoxious too.

He always wakes up in a foul mood
And doesn’t behave quite as he should.
Besides, I must tell you he’s terribly lazy
And watches TV ‘till his vision gets hazy,
While munching on snacks or chewing on a nail.
Then, he finally starts to go through his mail.
Sadly, some letters are poorly handwritten –
Those are quickly balled up and passed on to the kitten.
Others, long-winded or lacking in style,
Find their way to a large ignored-letter pile.
Also, he’s lacking in gift-wrapping skills
And he has an irrational fear of windmills.
The worst thing is that, during all of his trips,
Most kids are ignored, just a few get their gifts.

Yes, Santa’s not perfect, he’s less than ideal,
But that’s solid proof that he’s indeed real.

About the Writer


Carmen Tiderle

Carmen is poet in chief at Funny Rhymes for Funky Times Inc., a copywriter and also Dora and Roman’s mother. She lives in Bucharest but she wrote her many poetry books for children (in Romanian) while travelling to the township of Joyville and the West Pole: Turvy-Topsy, funky rhymes for funny times (also in English), The Township of Joyville, West Pole Stories, The Great Outside, Who put pepper in the sea?, Selfie with the elves, The Glue Factory … poems translated by Victor Ghiga.