I love Trees.
Do You like trees, do you know them?
I was blessed to grow up
In an old growth oak forest.
I would cry when my father cut down any of our trees,
To make room and sunlight for his flowering bushes.
The trees were my friends.
I would climb the more approachable ones
Reading books as I sat on their limbs
Or just day dreamed.

Ah yes, those summer eves
On the hammock between two tall oaks.
I’d gaze up at the setting sunlight between the canopy of their leaves.
All holding ‘hands’ with the sky.

As I grew older, I learned to hug them more.
I discovered older trees with thick bark.
Oh how their ‘skin’ is so unique, just like us humans,
Some thick and hollow and bumpy like the cottonwoods.
Each tree, young or old, seems so wise to me.
Perhaps our humans, young and old, are also wise.
Many of us just don’t know it yet.

One day, I came to California
And finally met the revered Redwoods.
My whole life I had dreamed of them, read books, and sang songs about them.
Then finally I could make friends with my redwoods.

Redwoods are such social and friendly trees.
They gather in circles to protect each other.
I’ve heard they can ‘talk’ to one another through their roots and care for one another.
They let me sit on a grandfather stump and join them in meditation.
I felt so welcome.
Even the spiders around them are welcome and friendly.

The Redwood bark is soft on the outside
Their ‘flesh’ solid on the inside.
Their trunks stand so so tall.
They reach for the sun above all others.
Popping up above, conversing with the stars and clouds.

Their limbs so flexible, yet strong.
I hold their ‘hands’ and dance.
We hug each other’s ‘arms’ embrace.
Their needles so soft, flexible and cool on the cheek.

Oh yes, how I love trees
I study them. I draw them
I lay beneath them, I lean against them.
They support me, welcome me, hold me, comfort me.
I breathe the oxygen they produce, and smell so fresh.

Trees are my friends
Each one unique, with so much to say.
They have seen so much, and grow in many directions.
I love trees, and they love me.

– Mary Papoulis