The Christmas High Street Poem by David Wood

A tall fir tree stands alone in the cold
Winter sun at the top of the high street
With a red star hanging from its top
Looking down at an angle at the people
Below scurrying from shop to shop.

Walking through the shopping mall to
The sound of Away in a Manger by
School children with their red nosed
Teacher on an off key keyboard. Shops
Alive with ringing tills and happy customers.

Overworked shop staff with haloes and
Christmas jumpers with reindeer and
Snowflakes with customers eager to spend
All they have. Further down the mall you
See three 10 year old shepherds with two

Labrador's dressed as sheep, a 12 year old
Mary and doll siting on a bail of hay with a
Vicar and two vergers dressed as a wise men
Standing behind with church leaflets, all wearing
Covid face masks as shoppers walked past.

Back outside frost bitten pigeons looking,
Like the homeless man, for crumbs of hope.
The sound White Christmas from a saxophone
Getting louder as you walk while the smell of
Burgers and fast-food invade your nostrils.

You walk back to the car park where new
Shoppers are arriving, looking for somewhere
To park to join the mums with pushchairs or
Kids in tow, all joining the thronging crowds as
Christmas builds up to its annual crescendo.