Ricci Schwarzler - Tree

Blowing gently…a mere zephyr moves the gentle giants that live outside my windows. They remind me that our planet is alive. They constantly keep me in touch with nature. Reminding me that in my busy life, nature is still one of the most important aspects of my life. They connect me with the planet, with the weather, with what might come.

They are portents of storms that frequently come my way.

A still day, the trees remain silent. Not moving, not talking. No noise.

The trees remain still.

Then from nowhere the wind blows hot from the west. The trees start to move. Then harder and harder the gusts hit the canopies. Bending the giants to and fro. The skies still blue, but the wind is dark and hot, as if sent from inside the earth, from Hades himself.

I feel sorry for the trees, taking the brunt of that hot, dry air. Hades is sucking every ounce of water from their solid forms, from their souls and taking it to burn up with him in the bowels of the earth.

Then to the south, the skies fill with clouds, darker and darker, heavier and lower. They bring snowy white caps that emerge from the lake like white dolphins bobbing and bowing, but the trees still sway violently, west to east with Hades wrath. 

Gradually another wind arrives with the white caps. It’s cold and it’s strong, and it wants to push Hades wrath upwards. They collide, directly over my house, nature is in confusion; I can’t see which way the wind is blowing. The trees are moving in circles, then whipping from one direction to the next, then back to circles. Branches are maniacally whirling around with no set pattern. Leaves and branches are flying projectiles, hitting everywhere in all directions. I look to the branches to understand the direction. It’s useless. It’s everywhere, as if all Anemoi, the wind gods, were dispersing their carnage at once directly over my house. Its chaos but I love it. It makes me feel alive. But the trees are in chaos. Their trunks twisted, swayed and bent in all directions at once. I’m concerned for them, but I can’t help rejoicing in the omnipotence of nature.

I return inside to the safety of my living room and watch the ordeal unfold. I marvel at the root system that binds the trees to the earth. I marvel at Nature’s kindness that puts the chaos over my house, so I can feel our planet living, in all its chaos.