Redtree Times

The Christmas Stick, 2023

The Christmas Tree

Put out the lights now!
Look at the Tree, the rough tree dazzled
In oriole plumes of flame,
Tinselled with twinkling frost fire,
Tasseled with stars and moons – the same
That yesterday hid in the spinney and had no fame
Till we put out the lights now.

Hard are the nights now:
The fields at moonrise turn to agate
Shadows as cold as jet; in dyke and furrow
In copse and faggot
The frost’s tooth is set;
And stars are the sparks whirled out by the north wind’s fret
On the flinty nights now.

So feast your eyes now,
on mimic star and moon-cold bauble;
Worlds may wither unseen,
But the Christmas tree is a tree of fable,
A phoenix in evergreen,
And the world cannot change or chill what its mysteries mean
To your heart and eyes now.

The vision dies now: candle by candle
The tree that embraced it
Returns to its own kind,
To be earthed again and weather as best it
May the frost and the wind.
Children – it too had its hour; you will not mind
If it lives or dies now.

–Cecil Day Lewis

The poem above is from the late Cecil Day Lewis, who was Britain’s Poet Laureate at the time of death in 1972, as well as the father of Daniel Day Lewis.

Below is Cecil Day Lewis reciting his poem. It begins with a very short description of the themes that marked much of his work which I found very interesting. His recitation of the poem itself is lovely and gives it an emotional shape that I found comforting.

Wishing all a peaceful day.