Poetry Friday round-up with Tara at A Teaching Life
The multiple pictures of Christmas trees started showing up on Facebook before Thanksgiving. The more pictures posted, the more anxious I became. When we moved into this house eleven years ago, I didn’t get a tree until Dec. 18th, and Christmas came anyway. So what made me think on Dec. 1st that I was running behind? Should I let Facebook run my life? Get a grip.
My tree is here. We ventured out last Saturday afternoon to find the just-right one. It’s up. There are lights on it. That’s all.
I know I will enjoy putting the ornaments on. I will travel through the years and think of all the kids I have taught. I love the ones that mark “Baby’s First Christmas” and other milestones. Many memories in the box. But I can’t make myself do it yet. What am I waiting for? (A chunk of time that seems to get more and more elusive with each new December day.)
Tall evergreen in my living room,
long branches reach out,
my fingers touch your soft fur.
I’ll adorn you soon.
But today I watch
your twinkle lights
twinkle.
–Margaret Simon
Reflections on the Teche 
Margaret, I feel the sting of the holiday rush. Too much to do and not enough hours. Luckily, we don’t purchase our tree until the few days before Christmas and then we decorate. I am in the midst of trying to decorate the house. Outside done and inside getting there. Your tree is full and lovely and your poem’s line, “my fingers touch your soft fur”, makes me wish my tree was in front of me. I love just sitting in my living room enjoying the warmth of the holidays.
I like how your poem is a reflection of the tree! Move your name down a line so I can see it better!
I edited and hit enter twice. Better? Not really sure what you meant. Everyone’s browser is a different view.
Your tree is lovely just the way it is, Margaret. We stopped putting up a big tree when we started going to Virginia for Christmas. I put a little one up last weekend and have been enjoying its sparkling lights all week.
I am working hard to slow down time this Christmas. My children seem to have grown without my noticing. I want the joy and the love to last. I sit each morning in a room lit only by the twinkle lights of my tree and write. It is perfect, every morning. I loved your poem. Thank you for sharing your thoughts as well.
I always do what I want no matter when it is. No worries, it looks beautiful now, too. Merry, merry, & love that you wrote a poem, too. Maybe your first decoration?
Isn’t this season all about slowing down, so no worries! We’re really in watching and waiting mode. If we go too fast we may miss any appearances of peace and love. Keep on watching the twinkle!
Margaret, that’s a gorgeous tree just as it is…and your holiday will twinkle even if you never open the box of adornments this year. I like how the shape of your poem reverses the triangle of your tree, pointing downward to a ground place of brightness.
(that was supposed to read “a grounded place of brightness.”)
I love when I post a poem and the reader sees something I didn’t. I’d love to say that I intended the inverted triangle, but it was a happy accident. Thanks for seeing it.
I’ve gone without a tree for several years now. I’ve been spending half of my break with my mom in Colorado. I don’t want a tree until I can properly savor the sights and smells…but I am AWFULLY homesick for my ornaments…
Beautiful tree, even only partially adorned!