If I were an oak
tree, I’d already be three hundred years old. The last few years, I
teetered and tottered and threatened the roof of the house on this plot, and I
scared the neighbors, too. But no longer. No more. Now I come
crashing down. Now I rain thunder on the earth. The birds caw, the
squirrels scurry away, everything shakes. In a few moments, though, all
is still again. I am not the first tree to have touched the ground.
Intricate branches,
my leaves and twigs, they reached out towards sun and moon, accumulating.
Now they dig into the dirt. And roots, the roots that kept me
grounded, they point skywards- stretching out desperately, yearning now to
escape to the heavens. Why did I take them for granted? And when I
was young, I remember, how fast I grew. I thought I’d extend forever.
The clouds, the sun, the moon- I’d get there one day. I would rise
above my thick canopy easily. That was a given. I would surely
rise that high. But my foliage, my leaves, my branches never stood
that tall. The older I got, the less I grew. And now I lie
scattered.
When the lumberjack
comes to slice me up you’ll see it all- for our lives are written in the
rings. Sap leaks from every contour, and if you touch your tongue to
it, you’d know bitterness, you’d taste anguish, in my last drops, it oozes out.
They say if you come at the right time, just at that moment when tree
turns to wood, and place your hand there, you absorb the wisdom of its
memories. Not very many know this or chance upon it, and so, too much of
history repeats itself. But pay attention- if you wait too long, it will
all turn to syrup. At my funeral you’ll see how sweet it can be, how
sweet they’ll make it. And maybe one day it will even become amber, all
crystallized splendor- am I arrogant to dream? - But no, right now, it’s
neither, it is as plain a substance as can be. Stay away, though, please,
I beg you. It’s all poison.
Was it always like
this? I can’t remember. Put your hand to the innermost rings, and
tell me. Tell me what you see flashing in front of you, tell me what
happened, please?
