Post No. 056: For Christmas Day 2021 — Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons Of Blue ("He'll Have A Blue Christmas Without You!")

(Image by Paul Whiting)

Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons Of Blue
(Or, "He'll Have A Blue Christmas Without You!")
[A "Pretty Paper/Blue Christmas" songs lyrical adaptation]

Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue.
Wrap your presents to your darling from you;
Pretty pencils to write "I love you!"
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue.

Crowded street, busy feet hustle by him,
Christmas shoppers are just rushing by.
There he sits, all alone, on the sidewalk,
Hoping that you won't pass him by.

Should you stop? Better not, much too busy!
You're in a hurry; my how time does fly by.
In the distance the ringing of laughter;
And in the midst of the laughter he cries...

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...So, he'll have a blue Christmas without you.

He'll be so blue, barely coping without you!

Your Christmas tree, so beautifully trimmed,
Won't feel the same, if you're not helping him!

And when those cold snowflakes start falling,
That's when those cold shivers start calling!

You'll be doing all right, with your Christmas of white.
But he'll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas!

You'll be doing all right, with your Christmas of white.
But he'll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas...

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...Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue.
Wrap your presents to your darling from you;
Pretty pencils to write "I love you!"
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue.

Crowded street, busy feet don't hustle by him,
Christmas shoppers are not just rushing by.
There he sits, not-so-alone, on the sidewalk,
Knowing that you won't pass him by.

You still stop, though you know that you're busy!
You're in a hurry; but so is Santa as he flies.
From your hand the ringing of spare change;
And in the midst of the ringing he sighs.

-Paul Whiting
(a.k.a., A Creative Writer)
"I maybe say too much about how life really is!"

I budget for "carrying cash" each month in my monthly budgets for any expenses that I may wish to pay for in cash. And I budget—specifically—to use some of my carrying cash to help homeless folks who are panhandling, or "spanging" (which is a term that is a blend of the word 'spare' plus the word 'change' from the phrase, "Do you have any spare change?" or the phrase, "Can you spare any change?") and that is how I give "alms to the poor." –Paul Whiting (written December 26th, 2015, revised September 24th, 2019, revised December 23rd, 2021, revised December 24th, 2021, revised December 25th, 2021, revised December 26th, 2021 and revised July 6th, 2022)

My Writing Notes:

The reason that I wrote this poem can be summed up with the following statement: I rewrote the original Christmas songs, "Pretty Paper" and "Blue Christmas," as a lyrical-adaptation poem, in order to extol the virtues of helping the less fortunate, who are living on the streets—and who are in desperate need of "Alms for the Poor"—since they are homeless!

You see, I was homeless for ten days in October of 2009! And, for me, the toughest part about being homeless wasn't living outdoors, since I was basically "camping": it was the way that some people treated me, because I didn't have a place to live. [However, I should clarify that it never stormed while I was homeless, nor did it ever reach freezing temperatures; plus, I had money available to buy whatever I needed (the reader should know that I am HIV-positive and that I have full-blown AIDS) due to the fact that I am on "SSDI," or Social Security Disability Insurance.]

And so, I budget—specifically—to use some of my carrying cash to help homeless folks who are panhandling, or "spanging" (which is a term that is a blend of the word 'spare' plus the word 'change' from the phrase, "Do you have any spare change?" or the phrase, "Can you spare any change?") and that is how I give "alms to the poor."

Thus, I wrote this lyrical-adaptation poem from the original Christmas songs, as a "medley" (along with another lyrical-adaptation poem titled, "Good King All-Of-Us," which is published on this blog), as a way to encourage everyone—who has the ability and desire—to please consider helping homeless folks in a way that feels right to you, just like I do throughout the year by offering those folks help-out money when I see them on the street!

And this poem was only published on my "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" blog.

This poem was lyrically adapted in Portland, Oregon.

-Paulee

"Pretty Paper (song)" from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia—which is funded primarily through donations from millions of individuals around the world, including this blogger (I make a totally affordable monthly donation):

"'Pretty Paper' is a song written by country music singer-songwriter Willie Nelson in 1963. After being signed to Monument Records, Nelson played the song for producer Fred Foster. Foster pitched the song to Roy Orbison, who turned it into a hit. Nelson later recorded his own version of the song in November 1964."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Paper_(song)

"Blue Christmas (song)" from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia—which is funded primarily through donations from millions of individuals around the world, including this blogger (I make a totally affordable monthly donation):

"'Blue Christmas' is a Christmas song written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson and most famously performed by Elvis Presley; it was first recorded by Doye O'Dell in 1948. It is a tale of unrequited love during the holidays and is a longstanding staple of Christmas music, especially in the country genre."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Christmas_(song)

This poem was written as a lyrical adaptation from the original Christmas songs, "Pretty Paper" and "Blue Christmas," on September 28th, 2021.

This "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" Post No. 056 was edited on April 15th, 2024.

"Poetry is using the fewest words possible in order to describe all that is possible to describe." –Paul Whiting [June 1st, 2022]