lucila soto

They say trees are wise,
wise because of age, patience and silent observation.
Some say they wake up and talk to each other at night,
they talk about what they saw, about what they heard,
about the essence of life.

On a late walk last night at the usual park I found stumps instead of trees, half of the usual population had vanished in just one day, they laid there just lifeless wood. The reasons could have been to prevent them from falling or catching fire as they were old and dry, or maybe they had a plague and was best to stop it from spreading to the others, still their presence was missing…

Always so discrete I’m unable to describe their exact shape,
color, height
or shape of their bark.
But what I do recall is how I used to run between them,
one even helped me avoid a fall when my dog was pulling me so hard
I remember the nice shade they offered on hot days,
and how Tallulah, my great dane,
could spend hours chasing the squirrels that chose them as a home.

Watching that void, vacant space was overwhelming,
nostalgic and it hurt.
I never thought they were that special to me,
so silent, so steady, so strong.
It show a valuable lesson:
life is change: nature, relationships, us
everything changes, even certainty is in motion.
So be wise as a tree and take advantage of life while it lasts.