Tangles & Tails: Tracey Kiff-Judson's Blog

Dear Christmas Tree

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Category: Blog

Welcome to Poetry Friday! 

I am excited to see what this week holds!  The talented and amazing Robyn Hood Black is hosting at Life on the Deckle Edge.
This week, just a small tribute to our discarded Christmas tree. 

Dear Christmas Tree

I’m sorry, dear tree,
to leave you this way,
lying outside
on this cold winter day.

We loved you, adorned you,
with lights and with bows.
You gave all you had,
you were great, heaven knows!

You held on so long,
at times through a drought.
We missed giving water;
your needles fell out.

Now you lie waiting
for trash pick-up day.
I’m sorry, so sorry,
to leave you this way.

28 comments

  • That is delightful...we love our trees so much and then by the middle of January, we kick them to the curb. Great rhyme keeps what could be so sad light enough. 
    • Thank you, Linda!  I tried to come up with a cheerier ending, but the future with the woodchipper sounded pretty bleak!  : )
  • What a fun poem for January! There are lots of poems about the holidays, and decorating trees - I love the unexpectedness of a poem about the tree after it's been "decommissioned" !
  • "Adorn" is a great verb -- with echoes of "adore" but also so fitting for the lights, etc. Maybe your tree will be turned into mulch and have a new "commission" that way! (I hear you about the wood-chipper, but it seems like trees would like getting back into the circle of life?)
  • Tracey,
    What a sweet rhyme! Oh, my goodness. So much perfection in that poem, the rhythm and rhyme are delightful. And the photo makes it all the better. 
  • Aw, I think I'll share with some of my neighbors, Tracey. It's pickup day for us next week! It's just right for a farewell to the tree and all the trimmings! 
  • The right poem at the right time! I hope your tree gets to reenter the cycle of life as mulch for a path or, if sunk in a lake, as habitat for fish!
  • I do love how your rhythm and rhyme keeps this from being a depressing poem. The tree does look abandoned in the photo, though. I like to think of it going back home to the soil, rather than as trash.
  • I was thinking this year that it's a shame to cut a tree and throw it away for Christmas. Apparently they are grown for this holiday, but still. Your poem captures so well the tug on our hearts that we cast our trees aside. Thanks for sharing this! 
    • Yes, it does feel a little like losing a friend!  My brother bought potted Christmas trees for years and then planted them, but they are hard to find these days.
  • Love this! And can totally relate to forgetting to water the tree. :) Ours is now resting peacefully in a big brush pile. 
  • I love your tribute to your Christmas tree. Your rhythm and rhyme are perfect. We have a real tree in our home, too, but we can put it out on our property after the holidays. I like to think that it provides shelter and habitat for other creatures. I'm not sure that's much consolation for the tree, though...Interestingly, in an alternative to the wood chipper, around here (coastal Maine) after Christmas, they were calling for people to donate their trees to shore up the dunes. Sadly that was even before the catastrophic storms struck. 

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