Working beneath the eave, sheltered from the falling snow,
with a string of brightly colored bulbs
I spelled out my Yuletide proclamation
and was warmed by the message and the glow
“Noel” was what I spelled while under the eave,
but alas, passersby on the street wondered, “Who was Leon?”

Gene Newman was a USAF cryptologist during the Korean War and is a retired engineer and journalist, including stringing for the N.Y. Times and being a crossword puzzle creator for the New York Times and USA Today.