Twas the Night at Changing Lives Martial Arts

Twas the night before classes, in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake,
Not a student was stirring, not even a squeak.
The doboks were hung in the closet with care,
In hopes that new students soon would be there.

Children in beds with dreams in their heads,
Of high kicks and punches, and earning black belts.
And parents envisioning more than just martial arts,
But lessons of life, respect, and courtesy in parts.

When out in the dojang there arose such a clatter,
Students sprang from their beds to see what was the matter.
Away to the windows, they flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a luster of midday to objects below.
When what to their wondering eyes did appear,
But a Changing Lives Martial Arts sign, inviting and clear.

With a Taekwondo instructor, so lively and brisk,
Instructor Rambow with care and never a risk.
More rapid than eagles, her coursers they came,
And she whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:

“Now, Respect! Now, Discipline! Now, Courtesy and Passion!
On, Confidence! On, Fitness! On, Focus and Compassion!
To the top of the ranks! To the top of the wall!
Now kick away! Kick away! Kick away all!”

As leaves that in winters brisk whirlwinds do fly,
When they dance through the air, reaching up to the sky;
So swift to the rooftops, her coursers they sped,
With a sleigh full of doboks, and Instructor Rambow ahead.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney Instructor Rambow came with a bound.

She was dressed in a dobok, from her head to her foot,
And her belt was all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of uniforms she had flung on her back,
And she looked like a black belt just opening her pack.

Her eyes—how they twinkled! Her dimples, how merry!
Her cheeks were like roses, her nose like a cherry!
Her chilly skin and face was drawn up like a bow,
And her smile shone as bright as the snow’s gentle glow.

She spoke not a word, but went straight to her work,
And filled all the doboks; then turned with a jerk,
And laying her finger aside of her nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney she rose.

She sprang to her sleigh, to her team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard her exclaim, ere she drove out of sight,
“Happy training to all, and to all a good night!”
🎄🥋