STILL STANDING: Thriving through the seasons

My heart always finds solace among trees; where the lungs of the earth tower quietly overseeing the frantic buzzing below.

They remind me to look upwards and appreciate the majesty of a perspective shift.

Heights that have watched generations pass, weathered seasons and witnessed history; its ugly wars, perculiar triumphs, fears, failures, laughter and confusion.

Still alive.

Still rooted.

Still reaching.

The stillness forces a pause; to stop, to be, to listen.

Breathe.

Within the trunk, concealed growth rings record each year's existence.

Hidden circular patterns echoing the annual seasons and weather changes.

Climate clues and colour differences are only disclosed once a tree is finally cut and the inside grains are exposed.

I wonder what secrets the 2020 ring reveals?

Perhaps we will look back with greater understanding of the extreme climate we have endured this year.

Concentric shades we didn't notice forming are now carried up through our entire length.

Recorded,

Respected,

Remembered.

I may wish some things were erased, but each contributes to an increase in height and breadth.

These unseen endurance markers prove that I kept fighting!

I weathered the drought.

I held on through the downpours,

The landslides surrounding have changed the view but did not take me down.

I am still standing!

"Good timber does not grow with ease:

The stronger wind, the stronger trees;

The further sky, the greater length;

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow."

(Lines from 'Good Timber' by Douglas Malloch)