The Little Christmas Tree by Anthony Wright

I’m a little Christmas tree
Wanting presents under me
I would guard each tiny toy
For the little children’s joy

Since my limbs still touch the snow
I shall have to really grow
Then someday they’ll cut me down
And take me to a cozy town

Here and there the snow has bumps
Where it’s covered all the stumps
Of my friends and family,
Now they’re where I want to be

I can see them very well
In the homes where Christians dwell
Giving houses cheerful glows
Working with the mistletoes

I look forward to the time
When I will be in my prime
I shall be the brightest tree
Anyone will ever see

I use each and every root
To grow yearly by a foot
I see as the years fly past
I am growing pretty fast

Now a decade has gone by
And it’s almost time to die
Axemen come to cut me down
Then they’ll take me off to town

Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop!
I’m the last tree of the crop
Soon I lay upon my side
And they take me for a ride

Christmas is a time to give
And I give my right to live
But I think it’s all worth while
If I bring a happy smile

I am driven to a store
Where they stand me on the floor
People shopping here and there
Eyes are on me everywhere

People now are rather swift
In their rush to buy a gift
Someone may soon see me
As their perfect Christmas tree

I’m not sure about my fate
But I simply cannot wait
To be made up nice and bright
For a family’s home tonight

Sure enough I soon am bought-
To a cheery home I’m brought
And the kids say they are blest
With a place for gifts to rest

Christmas lights are put in place
I feel like I’m full of grace
I’m no longer just a pine
Now I’m something quite divine

They call people here to see
Their pretty little Christmas tree
I feel like I am their friend
And their love for me won’t end

After opening their gifts
Interest in me quickly shifts
Now I’m shocked to find that they
Throw me out on Christmas day

In the gutter you will see
An unhappy Christmas tree
Here I’m lying, crushed and sad
How could things turn out so bad?

Two weeks service have I filled
For what reason was I killed?
Why can’t Christmas season last
How could glory fade so fast?

Helian (66.42.98.61) -- Saturday, December 4 2004, 06:21 pm

Ever so true!
Your writing style is like if the old time poets were to transport to the present day and comment on life in this modern age.

Yes, some people treat X-mas like it is just an excuse to shop and pretend to be nice while they flip people off on the roads and run people over in the parking lots.

webster (4.250.51.44) -- Sunday, December 5 2004, 04:16 pm

Reads like a children's story
I like the idea of the passage of time through the eyes of the Christmas tree. I just don't think most people throw out the tree on Christmas day but leave it up for a while. You might have ended the poem with the Christmas tree living on in our hearts. Enjoyed, tho.

Anthony (66.42.99.222) -- Sunday, December 5 2004, 06:24 pm

But I've seen it myself...
While most people probably don't throw out their trees right away, I have walked around my neighborhood on Christmas morning and seen many a tree lying out by the road.

I have mixed feelings about the use of trees. In one respect it is a beautiful pagan tradition that warms a home during the Holidays and permeates the air with a pine scent.

On the other hand, the trees were raised over several years solely to be cut for Christmas. It seems like a waste.

My family, for many years, bought live trees which we then replanted so that the trees would not just have to live on in our hearts but would live on in reality. We stopped doing that a few years ago because of the seven plus year water drought in the South Western United States. Now we have a fake tree that we put up to celebrate Yule.

Terrie* (65.148.200.64) -- Sunday, December 5 2004, 09:06 pm

Anthony, i sooo loved these words you share...
yet sad as i read it but....they have great meaning...mainly 'cause when my daughter was 6 years old we lost her in surgery for 'bout 5 minutes..this was during Thanksgiving Christmas season, her Dr. asked her what she wanted for Christmas..her reply.."to go home w/my baby-brother my mommie and my daddy and to keep our Christmas tree up until Valentines day" she had never seen their tree, she could only visualize it when her little brother would describe it..every evening their dad brought her little brother in to do art work w/her and every evening he returned home to place it on the tree (to this day they are inseparable) and YES we kept the tree up til Valentines Day..when we had company they gave a 2nd look...because we had posted a sign " IN CASE YOU ASK" along w/a little poem about this special tree...and the Many Miracles of the Season...

thank you for sharing your words they have great meaning to me...

Georgia (66.42.99.72) -- Friday, December 10 2004, 04:50 am

Grinch!
So you want to tarnish a happy holiday tradition by making kids feel guilty about Christmas trees? Don't we all have enough to feel bad about as it is? Shouldn't Christmas be the one day of the year where we can be happy and not concern ourselves with pain and suffering?

Anthony (66.42.99.72) -- Friday, December 10 2004, 04:56 am

Maybe you are right
Perhaps you are right Georgia. Or, perhaps a new tradition can take root that doesn't require waste. We are a world of 6 billion which will be 12 billion in 30 years. We need to learn to conserve and recycle. We should rid ourselves of the habit of wasting...which can only become our undoing as populations reach critical mass because resources grow too thin to distribute in sufficient quantities.

Unless, of course, Christ comes back to us before the 30 years and alleviates the pressures we put on ourselves by using Mother Earth and all her blessings while contributing nothing positive to our Natural habitat in return.

Sorry...you have me ranting.

Jose (24.234.121.115) -- Friday, December 10 2004, 09:48 pm

Just wonderng
Hey Ant...is Georgia using the same comp. as you or what?

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