The time has come; let down your flowing hair,
Your jacket - let me ease it from your arms -
Wait. A final gaze, a farewell prayer
Before epiphany. Unclip your charms.
I cup a cone of pine within a hand
And gently slip it from your guardian wrist.
Another pulled, another stripped and then a band,
A ring of ivy green: unhook, untwist -
It clings! Feat not, dear leaf - your work is done
Now eye the final piece, diaphanous
In bridal white, in sheer chiffon -
When lifted bares the fir - its muskiness...
And now you stand, denuded in the hall
Your arms outstretched at the falling of it all.
