John's Tree

~ John’s String Tree ~

for years it was a string tree he had designed

and painstakingly rebuilt every December
then carefully stored away until the next

later, when age no more allowed the reach

atop the pole, came a huge three part bargain

decorated, yet too unwieldy to assemble at eighty

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the building of the tree

was often agony for me

the reason for my angst:

the stringing of the tree!

that old beloved tree, created in youth

of a tall bamboo pole, pegboard strips

screwed into a circle and Aunt Lydia’s

rug yarn (always patiently rewound

into a big green ball) was a bear

to put together every year

it was a puzzle to decipher worn instruction

 notes, frustration if a crucial peg were missing

or some gadget didn’t fit the way it should, while

five excited children sought to help - so eager
for the finished product they remembered

which was

a festive tree to grace our living room each

Christmas - sometimes with a train around it

always with the paper angels wafting to and fro

as if dancing to the music of the shepherd’s pipes

waiting above a growing pile of tantalizing parcels

JoMae

12/14/19

HaHa - I daydream a lot. And some dreams morph into a memory to keep.  JmkS