It's The Paper Chains Of Red And Green My Lord

it's the  paper chains of red and green, my Lord

I have flung across the Tree of your shadow:

let it be splendid, with small cakes; the cookies

with the silver beads; the rose red punch-

the excitements of the car-coats gathered at the end of school, before the first snow

and I am solely in the snow air

the way I want to be

like a prayer lightly walking toward you

in the Manger.

I will not change the way I feel

through a thousand Christmases.

it's only you in the cradle of starlight I want to see after all.

and I will thread through my own heart these silver strands of music and stand on the crest of the cold hills

under your cranberry skies;

closing my eyes before the ornaments arrive

in the night sky- oh chandeliers,

the fair and silver branching Tree of your Smile

mary angela douglas 4 june 2014