Saturday, December 7, 2013

Burlap Ribbons

Burlap ribbons falling down
Sparkling lights, golden crown
Pretty woman, dressing now
Our Christmas tree

She wore flour sack blouses until a teen
And they split open in the back;
She - sent home from school,
Sent back to the house to change
Into clothes she didn’t have
Into something she couldn’t buy -
Her kind was just too poor to be seen
In that town those days.

Burlap ribbons falling down
Sparkling lights, golden crown
This pretty woman, dressing now
Our Christmas tree.

I wish now I had given her nice clothes – something
I wish I could take back
The black sins of a young fool
And go back to her house and change
Into the love she didn’t have
Into something she couldn’t buy –
Her kindness just too pure for me
In that time - those days.

Oh, I wish she was here now, hanging
Burlap ribbons, falling down-
Two lovely women, dressing now
Our Christmas tree.

2 comments:

Brad Koehn said...

Love it! What's the story behind it?

Andy said...

Watching my wife putting burlap ribbons on the Xmas tree reminded me somehow of how farming folk dressed back during the depression (flour sack dresses and such). This reminded me of a story Dad told me recently about my Mom. Mom was sent home from school once because her clothes were not adequate to keep her covered. They were all she had.