Charles Weld
O Tannenbaum
Near ninety, my Uncle Jack confessed one Christmas
that he’d disliked snow on evergreens since age nineteen,
when—U.S. Army infantry—he’d been a machine
gunner at the Battle of the Bulge. The frozen
Ardennes forest—night temperatures down to zero
or below, miles of dark trees bent under snow—
came back in holiday cards he opened at my cousins’
house near Buffalo. Sharp-edged, he’d dismiss
their sentiment, unwilling to indulge. Peace on earth—
a crazy aspiration. Organized labor might give birth
to something better than what we know—not
fantasy. The Germans’ machine gun cut
people in half. Hitler’s Buzz Saw, G.I.s named it.
The Bulge they called the Children’s Crusade—bitter wit,
part of their winter outfit, like wool, cigarettes, and chocolate.
“‘O Tannenbaum’ is a poem that describes some of my uncle’s experience of WWII, as told to me during family visits when he was in his eighties. From my perspective visiting my cousins as a kid, he’d always seemed a little grouchy. As an elder, he was generous, kind and very open about his experience, during that last German offensive of December, 1944 and January, 1945. That he’d disliked snow on conifers ever since that fierce, winter battle (in which he was wounded) is straight from his mouth. And gave me the idea for the poem. Rest in peace, Uncle Jack.” —Charles Weld
Charles Weld’s poems have been previously collected in two chapbooks, Country I Would Settle In (Pudding House, 2004) and Who Cooks For You? (Kattywompus Press, 2012). Kelsay Books published a collection, Seringo, in October 2023. A mental health counselor educated at Cornell and the University of Maine, he’s worked as an administrator for a non-profit agency that provides treatment services to youth and families. Mostly retired, he enjoys walking in the Adirondacks, step-grandparenthood, the deep roots of a long marriage, listening to children, the overlapping circles of blended and extended family, Quaker community, and the pace of life in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.