Sarah White Verse-Virtual 2016 December

December 2016

I live in New York City, where I enjoy art classes, plays, operas, and museums. I also frequent the nearby Jewish Community Center which lets me use the pool and take beginning Hebrew even though I’m (mostly) not Jewish. I used to teach college French, and studying languages is one of my two favorite impossible pursuits, the other being poetry. My fourth collection, A Bend in Time, will be published next Spring by Deerbrook Editions. It includes this poem.

The Seller of Christmas Trees

I’ve heard the seller of Christmas trees
lament the weight and strain
of carrying Christmas on his shoulder

like the Wise Men
crossing starlit plains
with gifts to soothe a child,

like my mother
decking a tree with presents
to console us for an absence,

like me and two kids on our own
setting up a ladder
to trim the plump Scotch pine,

hanging a popcorn garland,
unraveling long electric strings,
and lighting the fragile bulbs.

O seller of evergreens,
do not lament.

Behold my sons!
Behold our tipsy star!

Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to tell him or her. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is the beginning of community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -FF