Ben The Red-Nosed Giraffe

‘Twas the day before Christmas, and all around OcUK
The giraffes were playing, enjoying their day.
While every so often they’d stop to call names
At one little lad not allowed in the games
“Ha ha! Look at Ben! His nose is a sight!
It’s red as a beet! Twice as big! Twice as bright!”

While Ben just cried. What else could he do?
He knew the things they were saying were true!
Where most giraffe noses are beige and not that tiny.
Poor Ben’s was red, very large, and quite shiny.
In daylight it sparkled. (The picture shows that!)
At nighttime it glowed, like the eyes of a cat.

Although he was lonesome, he always was good –
Showing up for events, as good reindeer should!
That’s why, on this day, Ben almost felt playful.
He hoped that from 8Pack, soon driving his pick trolley sleigh, full
Of Haribo, liquid cooling, and other hardware toys
For good little animals, good girls and boys.

While way down in tech, on this same foggy night.
Old 8Pack was packing his sleigh for its flight.
“This fog,” he called out, “will be hard to get through!”
He shook his head. And his biceps shook too!
“Since I won’t use any RGB to light the way for us,
This extra-dark night is quite likely to swamp us.

To keep from collision, we’ll have to fly slow.
To see where we’re going, we’ll have to fly low.
We’ll steer by the streetlamps and houses tonight,
In order to finish before it gets light
Just think how every Overlocker’s hopes would be shaken
If we didn’t reach them before they awaken!”

Come, Dasher! Come, Dancer! Come, Prancer and Vixen!
Come, Comet! Come, Cupid! Come, Donner and Blitzen!
Be quick with your games! Get gg in a hurry!
You, too, will find fog a lag and a worry!”

And 8Pack was right, as he often tends to be.
The fog was thick as his new build’s chassis.
He tangled in treetops again and again,
And barely missed hitting a huge, speeding plane.

Just not getting lost needed all 8Pack’s skill –
With street signs and number more difficult still.
He still made good speed, with his reindeer overclocking,
Finding homes by the house lights still burning.

“But only monitors and RGB will be on after midnight,” 8Pack said.
“And I refuse to let them light my way instead!”
Through dark streets and houses 8Pack did poorly.
He now picked the presents more slowly, less surely.
He really was worried! For what would he do,
If folks started waking before he was through?

The night was still foggy, and the way not graphed,
When 8Pack arrived at the home of a giraffe.
Onto the roof, with the clouds all around it,
He searched for the chimney, and finally found it.
The room he came down in was black than ink,
He went to lean on a plush noblechairs, but it turned out to be a sink!

The first giraffe’s bedroom was so very black,
He tripped on the rug, and burst open his pack.
So dark that he had to move close to the bed.
And peek very hard at the sleeping giraffe’s head,
As before he could choose the right kind of toy
He needed to know if they were a casual gamer girl or boy.

But all this took time and filled 8Pack with gloom.
While feeling his way toward the next giraffe’s room.
The door he’d just opened – when, to his surprise,
A soft-glowing red-coloured light met his eyes.
Not from the Mach 3 this was; the light came, instead,
From something that lay at the head of the bed.
And there lay – but wait now –what would you suppose?
The glowing, you’ve guessed it, was Ben’s red nose!
So this room was easy! This one little light,
Let 8Pack pick quickly the gifts that were right.

How happy he was, till he went out the door…
The rest of the house was as black as before!
So black that it made every step a dark mystery.
And then came the second greatest idea in all of history!
He went back to Ben and started to shake him,
Of course very gently, in order to wake him.
And Ben could hardly believe his own eyes!
You can just imagine his joy and surprise.

At seeing who stood there, a hoof’s length away.
And told of the darkness and fog and delay.
And 8Pack’s great worry that enthusiasts might waken
Before his complete Christmas trip had been taken.

“And you,” he told Ben, “May yet save the day!
Your bright shining nose, son, can show us the way.
I need you, young fellow, to help me tonight,
To lead all my deer on the rest of our flight.”
And Ben broke out into such a big grin,
It almost connected his ears and his chin!

He scribbled a note to his folks in a hurry,
“I’ve gone to help 8Pack,” he wrote, “Do not worry.”
Said 8Pack, “Meet me and my sleigh on the lawn,
You’d stick in the chimney.” And flash, he was gone.
So Ben pranced out through the door very jolly,
And took his proud place at the head of the pick trolly.

The rest of the night…well, what would you guess?
8Pack’s idea was of course a brilliant success.
And ‘brilliant’ was almost no word for the way
That Ben directed the deer and the sleigh.
In spite of the fog, they flew quickly, and low,
And made such good use of the wonderful flow
That shone out from Ben at each intersection
That not even once did they lose their direction.

At all the house and street with a sign on them,
The sleigh flew real low, so Ben could shine on them.
To tell who lived where and just what to give whom,
They’d stop by each window and peek in the room.
8Pack knew always which gamers were good,
And minded their parents, and ate as they should.

So 8Pack would pick out the gift that was right,
With Ben close by, making just enough light.
It all went so fast that before it was day,
The very last present was given away.
The very last stocking was filled to the top,
Just as the sun was preparing to pop!

The sun woke all around Overclockers UK,
And they found the message left by Ben before the start of the day.
So gathered outside to greet him were all the staff
And joining them nervously were the other giraffes.
That Ben, the ugliest of them all,
Ben the Red-Nosed, bashful and small,
The funny-faced fellow they always called names,
And practically never allowed in their games,
Was now to be envied by all, from here to EPIC.LAN.
For no greater honour can come to animal or human
Than riding with 8Pack and guiding his sleigh.
Saving him from using RGB that day!

The sleigh, and its reindeer, soon came into view.
And Ben still led them, as downward they flew.
Oh my, was he proud as they came to a landing
Right where his handsomer playmates were standing.

The same who used to do nothing but tease him
Would now have done anything, only to please him.
They felt even sorrier they had been bad
When 8Pack said, “Ben, I never have had
Anyone quite so brave or so brilliant as you
At fighting black fog and at steering me through.

By you last night’s journey was actually bossed.
Without you, I’m certain, we’d all have been lost!
I hope you’ll continue to keep us from grief.
On future dark trips, as commander-in-chief!”
While Ben just blushed, form his head to his toes,
Till all of his fur was red as his nose!

The crowd first applauded, and then started to screech,
“Hurray for our Ben!” and “We want a speech!”
But Ben, still bashful. Despite being a hero,
Was tired. His sleep on the trip totaled zero.

So that’s why his speech was quite short, and not bright.
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Ben The Red-Nosed Giraffe

Jacob Smith

Jacob Smith