David K. Leff, Essayist, Poet, Lecturer

First Christmas Trees

I enjoy an ecumenical household, so when Mary and I married a few months ago it was with anticipation of sharing two celebrations that would bring light into our home near year’s end.  But, since it’s not a  part of my tradition, I didn’t expect that work, school and appointment schedules would leave cutting a Christmas tree to me.

Our home is an 1847 Greek revival and no doubt has hosted many a holiday evergreen, but since this would be its first Christmas tree in many years, I decided to prepare by visiting the site of the first decorated Christmas tree at Noden-Reed Park in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.  Some sources say it’s the earliest in Connecticut, others in New England, and still others in the Untied States.  Regardless, it’s where a primal Christmas tree of some kind was first observed.

Solstice (poem)

Hunkered into December, tightened down
and buttoned up in buildings and flannels, we
warm with memories and longings beside
flame, filament and glowing heated gasses.

Thin and brittle air, soil starched with frost
underfoot signal constricted days
of light slowly leaking away since harvest’s
drunken abundance and gilded leaves.

Time thickens when the sun stands still
at its weak angled noon.  Sharing the stasis,
we know time is made of waiting
and waiting is composed of time.

Clocks fret with restless ticking as earth’s axle
creaks unheard at sunlight’s ebb, signaling
spring despite the frigid, calorie-devouring
months of reflecting snow.

Today’s sherbet sunrise stretched in stratus bars
is a long-distance lover reaching for its closest
embrace with dusk.  We wait for light
to accumulate like interest as we borrow
in this season, paying forward to the next.

Chimney Spotting: Maybe Santa Knows Something We Don't

Chimneys gossip hidden tales about a house, but are so conventional and frequently seen that most of us hardly notice.  They can tell us about the age of a place, its style, long term maintenance, history and  evolution, the fuel used to heat it, even hint at the lives of its inhabitants.  Chimneys are among a house’s strongest, most expressive features.  They catch my eye, and I find that by looking carefully I can make discoveries that are otherwise inaccessible.