O' Christmas Tree

[Dark Muse]

O' Christmas Tree

I
am the
sacrificial lamb
my blood shed
for fickle delight
life stolen
in budding youth
robbed of potential
so upon my limbs
gaudy finery
may be strung
shining bright
my soul withers inside
what thought spared
for my decay
while placed upon display
momentary masterpiece
to be thrown away
once usefulness wears off
without a second thought
dying alongside
the street
O' Christmas tree
my brothers weep
in silence!

[JuniperWoolf]

Very Hans Christian Andersen.

[Virgil]

I didn't know Christmas trees had blood. ;)

[Dark Muse]

Sap is tree blood

[Virgil]

Sap is tree blood

I guess it depends on how we define blood. But ok, I'll accept that. :)

[~Sophia~]

I'm not sure how to respond to this poem. I fully understand your protest and a big part of me agrees but, then I think about the joy and the cherished memories of my kids faces lighting up along with the tree and I just have to forgive myself. Thanks for the thought provoking poem!

[Pendragon]

Love it! And the visual effect is superb!

[firefangled]

Dark Muse your poem is thought provoking. Just the other day I walked by a lot of Christmas trees and that smell brings back a flood of memories of Christmas as a child, but also of walking in an old pine forest as an adult.

We have an artifcial tree now. In North Carolina, I used to cut the tops off large cedar trees, which made an excellent full Christmas tree and the tops would grow back. Many years ago, I lived in the country and I would buy a tree in a root ball and when Christmas was over I would plant it. The idea came from my neighbors behind me, the Ramses, who then in their seventies had upheld this practice the 50 years of their marriage. Their house was surrounded by lovely drooping blue spruce and cedar.

By the way, Virgil, the sixth level definition from the Oxford English dictionary for blood is:

"the juice or sap of plants..."

[Virgil]

By the way, Virgil, the sixth level definition from the Oxford English dictionary for blood is:

"the juice or sap of plants..."
Well, there you go, though I am surprised though.

[Dark Muse]

I'm not sure how to respond to this poem. I fully understand your protest and a big part of me agrees but, then I think about the joy and the cherished memories of my kids faces lighting up along with the tree and I just have to forgive myself. Thanks for the thought provoking poem!

Hehe, I am not trying to say that getting a tree is a great evil, I just like to try to get people to change the way they look at nature, and understand that even trees are living and essentially "breathing" beings just like us.

And I was rather affected by the thought that they have the potential to live for 100s of years (which is really quite amazing) but in what is their infantry they are cut down just to be a short-lived decoration.

[Dark Muse]

Many years ago, I lived in the country and I would buy a tree in a root ball and when Christmas was over I would plant it. The idea came from my neighbors behind me, the Ramses, who then in their seventies had upheld this practice the 50 years of their marriage. Their house was surrounded by lovely drooping blue spruce and cedar.

That is an awsome idea!

[tailor STATELY]

A thought provoking poem indeed.

I have a dear friend who truly loves and admires trees; in fact it's his business to replenish and nurture groves that have been harvested or destroyed by fire. And yet, as an aside he sells Christmas trees annually that he 'raises' on his property. I guess if one thinks of Christmas trees as a 'harvest' crop some of the ambivalence of negative thought is less keen, though not from a tree's point of view.

I may share this poem with him to see how he reacts.

[Dark Muse]

I may share this poem with him to see how he reacts.

If you do, I would be currious to hear what he thinks.

[cogs]

love it! change the 'wares' to wears. love the ending and visual construction. at first i thought you were talking about jesus. definitely a charmer.

[Dark Muse]

love it! change the 'wares' to wears. love the ending and visual construction. at first i thought you were talking about jesus. definitely a charmer.

Thank you for the comments and catching the typo

[Silas Thorne]

An excellent, thoughtful poem!

[MorpheusSandman]

Definitely an interesting perspective. I initially took it as an allegory for Jesus's sacrifice but it becomes more obvious it's simply (but provocatively) about the death of a tree.