Deck the Streams
Sung to the tune of "Deck the Halls"

Deck the streams with lots of green, Fa la la la la la la la la!
Trees and shrubs will keep them clean, Fa la la la la la la la la!
Willow twigs build hearty buffers, Fa la la la la la la la la!
So our watersheds won't suffer, Fa la la la la la la la la!

See the flowing streams before us, Fa la la la la la la la la!
Thanks for helping to restore us, Fa la la la la la la la la!
BMPs can clean our water, Fa la la la la la la la la!
Keeping fish from needless slaughter, Fa la la la la la la la la!

Fast away the runoff passes, Fa la la la la la la la la!
Over fields but slowed by grasses, Fa la la la la la la la la!
Streambanks holding strong together, Fa la la la la la la la la!
Regardless of the rainy weather, Fa la la la la la la la la!

To view holiday poems from previous years, click here.
The music to Deck the Halls was reputed to have come from a Welsh tune called "Nos Galan" dating back to the sixteenth century. The "fa-la-la" refrains were probably originally played on the harp. In the eighteenth century Mozart used the tune to Deck the Hall for a violin and piano duet. The English words generally sung today are American in origin and date from the 19th century.

Cooks Creek Restoration Project
 Bucks County, PA
Photo: F. X. Browne, Inc.