Our First Tree

Discount lot, December twenty-third The leaning one — we took the leaning one It barely cleared the radiator, scraped the ceiling tile You held the trunk, I tightened screws, it took us half the night Four ornaments — we bought them two by two A paper star you folded 'cause the real ones cost too much The whole world fits in one warm room When everything you own is here with you This is our first tree, crooked as it stands Lit up like a promise in a rented little flat Someday they'll be taller, someday they'll stand straight But baby, nothing's ever gonna feel bigger than this Our first tree — our first Christmas The needles dropped by New Year's, we kept it anyway Toast went black while we were dancing to the radio You hung your two, I hung my two, we stepped back like it was art The window doubled all the lights so it looked like twice as much The whole world fits in one warm room When everything I own is standing next to you This is our first tree, crooked as it stands Lit up like a promise in a rented little flat Someday they'll be taller, someday they'll stand straight But baby, nothing's ever gonna feel bigger than this Our first tree — our first Christmas Years from now, some bigger house, some box marked DECORATIONS We'll dig out one paper star, gone soft along the folds And hang it highest — always highest That was our first tree, crooked as we were Lit up like a promise that we kept They got a little taller, we got a little gray But nothing's ever felt bigger than that Our first tree — our first Christmas Discount lot, the leaning one It held everything we had — and it held