Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting
They say it’s home for Christmas,
this 85 year old spruce from Maryland
sacrificed from its snug spot
in the northeastern woods
murdered with a saw blade and
hauled to Manhattan
for one single festive month
of Christmas celebration
I’m no Scrooge,
yet I silently weep for this tree -
rooted in its homeground
a great grandfather
in its circle among younger trees
in a peaceful thicket
where birds nest
woodland critters seek refuge
and snow falls
gently blanketing the night
“Most heralded tree of all at Christmas” announcers of the
Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting say
and in the same breath
“all trees should be celebrated -
the Arbor Day Foundation and NBC will partner to plant 25,000 trees.
Text TREES to 707070
to be part of the Global Climate
change” they urge.
And this is how we celebrate a tree?
We slaughter it and
dress it up in lights
and put its carcass on display
in New York City
for shopping-bag armed revelers
to stop
and rearrange their Coach purses
and take selfies
and lower their designer shades
and gawk at it?
And next, here came an original legend
to sing with off-key chump backups
They butchered Feliz
Navidad, Jose Feliciano in his nighttime sunglasses and this
little boy band of his did,
and in their misery an image
came vividly to mind:
boys going into a forest
(calling it tradition)
with chain saws, coming out carrying a legendary “live tree”
like a hog-tied pig,
strapping it down and lighting it up
as it stands there all sunglassless
and squinting-
not used to all this city glare-
in the name of Christmas
while past-their-prime musicians
try to sing at its feet
(calling it music)
as it finally fully appreciates the
solitude of its
forest
deeply wishing it were
home for Christmas
https://apple.news/A8B1qV-jtRCaxMyTtaNOfuA
Wow! Ashamedly, I never thought about this before. When I was younger (in the 70's) we often had a "living" tree. I also remember a Miwok Indian generously sharing her culture's perspective on a spirit in each object in nature. Even when the Miwok break a branch of a bush they pray silently to the spirit of that bush. Thank-you for your post. It's yet another area of my life that I harbor decadence. . . .
ReplyDeleteKim...it IS sad. I read the article and understand the family worried it would fall over during a storm, but still... trees are much more community-minded and communicative than most of us humans ever realize. They work together to survive; they have means of signaling danger to one another. They even manage to keep felled members live by pumping nutrients to the remaining stump...so to think of this tree growing and flourishing to be cut down for this purpose does pierce the soul. So much irony in that line, home for Christmas... I wonder now if cut trees try to heal themselves like cut grass does (that's what makes the fresh-cut grass smell, the attempted healing). But grass is still attached to the earth and the tree is not --oh so much to ponder here, literally, scientifically, metaphorically. Your poem hits home - deeply.
ReplyDelete