Digging a Tree

Christopher Clauss

Other families

saw to trunk,

cut their own tree

are happy to take

and haul it home to die

in their living room.

This is a thing

to someone else.

with a shovel not a saw.

This is why we bring the shovel,

My family

replanted in the yard

Tradition

is now taller than the house

is a powerful teacher.

have always gone to the tree farm

The tree from my first birthday

that will soon belong

I have never done.

the reason we dig

through frozen ground,

pop the roots out like a cork

This is the meaning of Christmas.

There is hope.

with strains and groans.

only having one Christmas tree survive.

This is the reason we have dug

nine holes in nine years

There is always hope.

•••

Stay Stripy

SLM