Orphaned

"Left-over" Christmas trees always sadden me. I think of all the time and energy and yes, love (I presume), that has gone into nurturing and caring for them, to grow them up to become evergreen specimens ready and willing to grace a home or business with their fragrance and beauty. Even before Thanksgiving dishes are washed and put away, the trees have been cut, severed from their life source, and shipped out. I know they are expectant, filled with dreams of tinsel and lights and presents. Perhaps someone has told them what is ahead, their purpose in life, their destiny. And it is made to sound so good and noble and fine. Many are adopted, selected and taken home, but there are those who remain in the lots. Under lock and key there is no escape. I know there are much worse things to contemplate, but today I think and record my thoughts on the orphaned trees, the "left-overs."



yesterday I saw
a flock of evergreens
ensconced in a
Christmas tree lot
crowded together
pushing and shoving
jostling for position
tightly against
a chain-link fence
topped with razor wire
confined with
no way of escape
incarcerated
through no fault
of their own
looking like puppies
up for adoption
anxiously peering
hopefully expectant
eyes pleading

choose me
pick me
please
take me home
with you

Pick Me!