Trees

Once upon a time, there was a tree which grew in front of the kitchen window of a tiny little farm house. It had been planted by a farmer for his wife who was sad when she moved away from her childhood home, so he had taken a seed from the tree by her old bedroom window and planted it near their house to remind her that this place could be their home now. As the tree grew so too did these people. They grew taller and wiser as they learned more about farming, marriage, and life. The woman’s belly grew, and then shrunk as a new baby entered the earth. Her belly grew and shrunk four more times and every time it shrunk again there was another baby. Eventually every baby grew into a man or a woman and they left their parents who had by this time begun shrinking in size. The couple’s hair had turned quite gray, yet still the tree grew on. The woman still looked out the window at it and smiled, although now she was often not remembering the home of her childhood, but the earlier years of this home when her children would play in the branches of the tree. One day the old man was no longer there to be seen and the woman would look upon the tree and weep in memory of the one who had planted it for her. Then there was a day when all the children came back, much older now with children of their own, and they took the old woman away to a nursing home and sold the house. At this time, the house itself was beginning to crumble and fall apart and the tree, which had endured many a storm, was beginning to lean too close to a power line. The new owners of the property took down both the house and the tree and began to build up tall office buildings and apartments all over the old farm land. However, before they could cut down the tree the wind swept up its seed and planted it upon a hill where grew a little sapling. This sapling was very sad and lonely because none of the people in these new buildings ever looked upon it and smiled for they were too busy looking at their computer screens. One day, though, after the little sapling had grown a bit, a little bird came to rest in the tree’s branches and sing the song of its people. This made the tree very happy, but one day the weather grew cold and its leaves started to dance away from its branches and the bird sang out “My time has come, I must bid you fair well” and, just like that, it flew away. The tree had no choice but to stay where it was and watch until the bird was nothing but a spec on the horizon. Slowly all the tree’s leaves fell down and withered and the tree was sure it was dying, but still it stood. The earth grew cold and barren. Although the sky sent down a blanket of snow to keep the tree warm, its heart felt cold with loneliness and it grew bitter and angry with the entire universe. Then one day something happened which felt like a miracle to the tree! The sun began to warm the earth once more, and even the tree’s own heart became warm as its sap ran once again and its branches grew new buds. With this beautiful spring the bird came back, for birds are migratory creatures and they never leave the trees they love forever. The bird told the tree such lovely stories of the other lands it had visited and the adventures it had along the way. The bird asked the tree what it had been doing so the tree told the bird about the cold and empty winter and the bird shuddered at the thought and wondered aloud why anyone would stay during the winter. The tree found itself wondering the same thing and wishing it had wings to fly away with the bird, but it didn’t so that Autumn the bird once again left the tree alone to weather the Winter. This time, however, the tree knew the bird was coming back, so it was  filled with a deep peace that made it possible to notice the beauty of the snow falling and the way it sparkled and twinkled beneath the streetlights. The tree also noticed the bright and colourful Christmas lights that the people in the city put up and the wonderful songs that they sang. That spring, when the bird came back, the tree had such lovely stories of its own to tell all about the joys of winter. “That does sound cool” said the bird. “Does it make you want to stay?” asked the tree. “No” the bird said “This land is still too cold for me. You should come away with me.” “I can’t” said the tree “this is the land where grew the tree that came before me, it is the land of my people, the land where I grew my roots, and I must stay.” The bird still did not understand, but the tree finally did and that was enough.