“A man’s job”…a Christmas poem

by Richard Subber | Dec 26, 2023 | Human Nature, My poetry, Poetry

…Becky and the baby are waiting…

A man’s job

I won’t sell my trees.

The balsams would go quickly

   at “cut your own” prices,

but I tell my neighbors, again this year,

there will be no cutting

   on this old slope that spills down

      to my little barn.

Day is darkening,

and I move among my trees.

This one, bent and broken

   in last winter’s snows,

has grown,

the birds of spring may nest

   in its green spaces…

and now, from below,

the boy climbs to me, his head down,

his father’s axe in hand,

he has changed since his father died,

he tries to do a man’s work,

he will have little time

   for baseball with the other boys.

“I told Momma I would find a tree,

to make a Christmas for Becky and the baby.”

So.

He holds his axe in both hands,

and he stands straight in my field.

I extend my arm.

“Go find a good one,

I can help you carry it home.”

December 1, 2018

 My poem “A man’s job” was published in my third collection of 64 poems, In other words: Poems for your eyes and ears. You can buy it on Amazon (paperback and Kindle), or get it free in Kindle Unlimited, click here

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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

Book review: Shakespeare’s Wife

Germaine Greer went overboard a bit…

click here

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My first name was rain: A dreamery of poems with 53 free verse and haiku poems,

and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)

and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.

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