Before I met her, I had never been with a tree lover.
I had some general sense of tree families,
Especially the crowd pleasing maples,
But I didn’t know all the types like she does.
I’ve been learning to see what has been there all along.
What was an undifferentiated mass of foliage
Now has individual specimens standing out.
What a precious gift she has given me.
Today I was out for my late afternoon bike ride
Traveling the familiar route
Looking up, seeking out the biggest trees,
Admiring their magnificent achievement.
Trees are persistent, growing slowly,
But growing and growing year after year.
Those giant trees were there before I was born
And they should outlive me, too.
There are trees around here that were here when
The Europeans arrived some 300 years ago.
Think of the changes those trees have survived.
Now they are threatened like never before.
Do you know about what’s killing the trees?
I think first you have to see them before you will care.
Leaves are compound and simple, alternate and opposite.
That’s enough to get you started looking at them.
My tree lover is a woman of science, an atheist
She says. So what is it about a tree standing there
That seems to make a relationship with her?
I’ve seen them have an intimate conversation.
