As it gets nearer to Christmas, Christmas trees are going up everywhere. Yes, I know some have been up since November! Here’s a poem about one.
The Littlest Christmas Tree.
The other trees looked oh so tall
To he, who was so very small.
And now it is the time of year
When everyone is filled with cheer.
Some men came for the tallest tree.
They took him with them, full of glee.
He was going into town.
In Market Square he’d wear a crown.
The littlest tree watched on as folk
Bought others. He was full of hope
That soon he would be picked to go
To a home where he’d put on a show.
But people passed him by and said,
“That one’s too small. Take another instead.”
His branches drooped. He was so sad,
Until a man came, with a lad.
Most other trees had long been sold.
The little tree stood in the cold.
“Look, there’s a small one,” said the lad
As he turned towards his dad
.
“It will just fit in our hall.
We can’t have one that is too tall.”
And so they came with spade and dug
Around his roots, all in the mud.
The littlest tree went home with them.
The lights and baubles gleamed like a gem.
He was so happy in that home
With all the love around him shown.
But Christmas passes soon away.
Then there came that dreaded day.
They took away the lights and balls.
“What happens now?” was all his thoughts.
He saw the tall trees passing by
On lorries, going off to die.
Their needles withering and brown
On their proud branches, drooping down.
Fear now filled the littlest tree.
“Is that what’s going to happen to me?”
But then the Dad came with a spade.
“I’ll not throw that for which we’ve paid.”
He dug a deep hole for the roots
And tamped it down with his big boots.
“We’ll let him grow, and then next year
We’ll bring him in again. Don’t fear.
And so the littlest tree was glad
That he’d been bought by this kind dad.
For now he has naught to fear.
He’s decorated every year.
I hope you enjoyed reading my poem.
If you would like to read more of my poetry, I have a poetry book recently published. It’s called Miscellaneous Thoughts and can be bought from your favourite store by clicking here where you can buy it from your favourite store. Or click on the book cover in the sidebar.
I’ve been on another Scottish holiday. This time to the islands of Islay (pronounced Iyla) and Jura. We chose the hottest week ever on the islands, or even in Scotland, I think.
Anyway, here are some photographs I took while there.
The first place we stayed was at an inn on the shores of Loch Fyne. A lovely position for a lovely inn.
The Creggans Inn
From here we went to look at Inverary Castle, the seat of the Dukes of Argyll, Chief of Clan Campbell.
An impressive Scottish castle
And another view.
We caught a ferry over to Islay. It took just over 2 hours, travelling down Loch Long, until docking at Port Askaig in the north of the island. From here we caught a bus to Bowmore, the capital of Islay.
The main street in Bowmore.
Bowmore is famous for its whisky. The hotel where we stayed actually belonged to the Bowmore distillery.
The excellent hotel where we stayed.
We had a room that had the most tremendous view across to Jura.
The Paps of Jura from our bedroom window.
And here is the harbour next to the inn.
Bowmore Harbour
The Bowmore Distillery
The next day we caught the bus back to Askaig where we caught a ferry, this time to Jura. The two island are very close together and the ferry only took 10 minutes maximum to cross. The natives don’t want a bridge though, as the bus driver on Jura told us.
We were planning to walk to a beautiful beach from the town of Craighouses. I say ‘town’, but both this place and Bowmore were scarcely bigger than villages.
Anyway, we set off for what should have been about a 3 mile walk. As we passed a cottage, a man was just going in and he warned us that the ‘clegs’ were out and we’d get bitten. We had no idea what these ‘clegs’ were. I assumed they were the midges that Scotland is infamous for. How wrong I was. Clegs, it seems, are nothing less than horseflies.
Now, I’ve come across these nasty insects before, when I used to ride, but only in ones and twos. These were in swarms. We took our hats off and walked for a while swiping at the little blighters, but eventually we were driven back to Craighouses.
Apparently they have the most painful bite of all the insect world.
So we sat in the hot sun, ate our lunch and contemplated the view.
On the day of our return to the mainland, we had to get up very early. Our ferry left at 6:50 and it was about a 20 minute drive. We’d ordered a taxi for 6:15, so were up at just before 5:45. What a sight greeted our eyes. A wonderful sunrise over the Paps of Jura.
After returning to the mainland, and collected our car, we had a beautiful drive to Glasgow, where we stayed for the night.
Sorry, Glasgow! Not impressed, even though we were on the banks of the Clyde near the new exhibition centre, dubbed the Armadillo, which I found underwhelming. It’s supposed to reference ships’ hulls, but I didn’t think it looked as spectacular in the flesh as it does in pictures. (I didn’t take a photo, and couldn’t find a free one, so if you want to see it you’ll have to look it up. Sorry.)
We walked to the centre of the city. Or at least what the map said was the centre, and it was where the main station was. It was packed with people, and little else other than eating places. No shops that we found. At a time of a pandemic, it was a little nerve-shredding being amongst crowds. There was litter around, too. The only place where there was any space to move without dodging people was the waterfront.
The following day we set off back to England, calling at friends and relatives on the way.
We’d had an excellent holiday, with fantastic weather. We’ve always been quite lucky in Scotland and keep telling people that it has brilliant weather! (I hope they take that with a pinch of salt, though.)
I would love to hear your views. Have you been to Scotland? How did you find the weather?
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Maria and Tom have bought an antique table for their 17th century house, but during the night, strange sounds begin. They are assured it’s not haunted, so what is causing the sounds and can they get rid of what is making them?
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Dragons Rule OK. V.M.Sang (author) 