Christmas 2018
Christ Climbed Down, by Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
first published in "A Coney Island of the Mind" in 1958
blues background.... by myself
Christ Climbed Down, by Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
first published in "A Coney Island of the Mind" in 1958
blues background.... by myself
Christ climbed down from His bare Tree this year
and ran away to where there were no rootless Christmas trees
hung with candycanes and breakable stars
Christ climbed down from His bare Tree this year
and ran away to where there were no gilded Christmas trees
and no tinsel Christmas trees and no tinfoil Christmas trees
and no pink plastic Christmas trees and no gold Christmas trees
and no black Christmas trees and no powder blue Christmas trees
hung with electric candles and encircled by tin electric trains
and clever cornball relatives
Christ climbed down from His bare Tree this year
and ran away to where no intrepid Bible salesmen covered the territory in two-tone Cadillacs
and where no Sears Roebuck creches complete with plastic babe in manger
arrived by parcel post the babe by special delivery
and where no televised Wise Men praised the Lord Calvert Whiskey
Christ climbed down from His bare Tree this year
and ran away to where no fat handshaking stranger in a red flannel suit and a fake white beard
went around passing himself off as some sort of North Pole saint
crossing the desert to Bethlehem Pennsylvania in a Volkswagen sled
drawn by rollicking Adirondack reindeer with German names
and bearing sacks of Humble Gifts from Saks Fifth Avenue
for everybody’s imagined Christ child
Christ climbed down from His bare Tree this year
and ran away to where no Bing Crosby carollers groaned of a tight Christmas
and where no Radio City angels ice skated wingless thru a winter wonderland into a jingle bell heaven
daily at 8:30 with Midnight Mass matinees
Christ climbed down from His bare Tree this year
and softly stole away into some anonymous Mary’s womb again
where in the darkest night of everybody’s anonymous soul
He awaits again an unimaginable and impossibly Immaculate Reconception
the very craziest of Second Comings
and ran away to where there were no rootless Christmas trees
hung with candycanes and breakable stars
Christ climbed down from His bare Tree this year
and ran away to where there were no gilded Christmas trees
and no tinsel Christmas trees and no tinfoil Christmas trees
and no pink plastic Christmas trees and no gold Christmas trees
and no black Christmas trees and no powder blue Christmas trees
hung with electric candles and encircled by tin electric trains
and clever cornball relatives
Christ climbed down from His bare Tree this year
and ran away to where no intrepid Bible salesmen covered the territory in two-tone Cadillacs
and where no Sears Roebuck creches complete with plastic babe in manger
arrived by parcel post the babe by special delivery
and where no televised Wise Men praised the Lord Calvert Whiskey
Christ climbed down from His bare Tree this year
and ran away to where no fat handshaking stranger in a red flannel suit and a fake white beard
went around passing himself off as some sort of North Pole saint
crossing the desert to Bethlehem Pennsylvania in a Volkswagen sled
drawn by rollicking Adirondack reindeer with German names
and bearing sacks of Humble Gifts from Saks Fifth Avenue
for everybody’s imagined Christ child
Christ climbed down from His bare Tree this year
and ran away to where no Bing Crosby carollers groaned of a tight Christmas
and where no Radio City angels ice skated wingless thru a winter wonderland into a jingle bell heaven
daily at 8:30 with Midnight Mass matinees
Christ climbed down from His bare Tree this year
and softly stole away into some anonymous Mary’s womb again
where in the darkest night of everybody’s anonymous soul
He awaits again an unimaginable and impossibly Immaculate Reconception
the very craziest of Second Comings