Tree Dream (Poetry)

We brought you into the warm —
cleaned you — clothed you round
in festive finery
and now you flaunt your jewels —
sparkle back at me
display your pagan charm
with all the confidence of one
who knows their place —
secure in old traditions —
the housing of bright greenery
once borrowed from the wood.

Your captured spirit laughs —
beams soft into the room
a breath from long ago —
the Green Man’s ghost entangled fast —
looped in star-hung mystery
along with tinsel
and the leaf-dimmed lights
strung limb to dipping limb —
where fake icicles and snowflakes
reminisce the real world dream
and plastic angels sing.