Night before Tournament Poem
‘Twas the night before tourney
And all through the house
Not a computer was stirring
Not even a mouse
The robots were tucked
All snug in their case
In hopes of great missions
Launched from home base
The kids were in jammies
The coach, she was too
Wondering if their hard work
was enough to get through
When down in the basement
There arose such a clatter
Coach jumped from her bed
To see what was the matter
Away to the door
She flew like a flash
Turned on the light
Then there was a CRASH!
The fluorescent lights
Shimmering down on the clock
Gave a sight to behold
For coach and peacock
For what to her wondering eyes
Should appear
But a bevy of elves
With a cold case of beer
More rapid than DSL
Those little guys came
They whistled and shouted
And called out their names
Now! Codeman! Now Sensor!
Now, Tester and MayGo!
On, Robust ! On, Wheeler!
On, Teamwork and Lego!
To the top of the stairs
And open the gate
Now test away, test away
Fix that wheel mate.
With gracious professionalism
And a wink of their eye
They met each obstacle
With a cheer and a cry
So up to the table
Those little guys flew
The robot fed dinner
For elves and birds too
And then they jumped down
No one got hurt
Stormy pushed in the chairs
And swept up the dirt
One was dressed in red
Another is blue
But most were in black
With a few in grey, too
A bag full of beams
They flung on the table
They engineered, fixed
And mended where able
Their eyes how they twinkled
As they sucked back the drinks
All over 21
Clearly, methinks
They chattered and laughed
Until the wee hours
Working marvels and wonders
On that robot of ours
Suddenly and sadly
As quickly as that
They undid their work
And tidied the mat
Then being fuel efficient
elves that they are
In the hydrogen car
they headed somewhere afar
Driving out in the night
A chorus of elves
sang "Sorry sweet children
You must do it yourselves"
Written by Christine Nicholls
With deference and thanks to Clement Clarke Moore
In case you were confused, a Peahen raised her chicks in the field behind my house that year. The room with our practice table looks right into the field. The team spent lots of time watch the peachicks throughout the fall.