In the seventh grade I enjoyed a brief claim to fame when my poem, “If I Were a Christmas Tree,” captured a prize in the junior high school’s writing contest.
The fame was fleeting, but the memory remains: of me sitting on the kitchen counter, dangling my legs against the cabinets, while my mother bakes her spicy “rocks,” otherwise known in Maine as “hermits.” (Given how dry and hard the cookies invariably turned out, “rocks” more aptly described Mama’s version.)
So, while she overcooked and I overtalked, my little rhyme was concocted, not without collaboration – actually, significant contribution – on my mother’s part. Some of the lines follow:
If I were a Christmas tree standing in the cold,
I’d wonder who would want me or to whom I would be sold.
Would I some living room adorn with all my tinseled glory
Or would I still be waiting here to tell my Christmas story?
Among the evergreens I stand and dream my dream again,
To come alive at Christmastime and cheer the hearts of men.
We loved Christmas trees – all of them – from cedars to pines to the fragrant balsam firs, which were trucked down south and sold for a fortune in Christmas tree lots. Our family always bought a cheap cedar, which dried out so quickly the bubbling candle-lights made Mama nervous the whole Christmastime.
But that didn’t deter her – or my – joy when the tree stood proudly in the living room, lights strung, balls attached, garlands wound, and the magic of the season filled the house. We were in agreement, she and I, that there never was, or ever will be, an ugly Christmas tree. And, every year we lifted our voices to “O Tannenbaum,” simple, spindly cedar or not.
e.e. cummings must have felt the same way when he wrote “little tree:”
little tree
little silent Christmas tree
you are so little
you are more like a flower
who found you in the green forest
and were you very sorry to come away?
see i will comfort you
because you smell so sweetly
i will kiss your cool bark
and hug you safe and tight
just as your mother would,
only don’t be afraid
look the spangles
that sleep all the year in a dark box
dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine,
the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads,
put up your little arms
and i’ll give them all to you to hold
every finger shall have its ring
and there won’t be a single place dark or unhappy
then when you’re quite dressed
you’ll stand in the window for everyone to see
and how they’ll stare!
oh but you’ll be very proud
and my little sister and i will take hands
and looking up at our beautiful tree
we’ll dance and sing
“Noel Noel”
Comments
comments for this post are closed