I will trade my Success.
And my Wealth
To be back again on a Tree
To be on a tree
Listening
Can you hear it?
The wind...
Once upon a time there was a tree, a big giant tree with an unhuggable trunk, even by ten people. The tree lived on a top of a slope few feet in height. Nobody has ever climbed that tree. It was sacred to the villagers. Yes, it was once upon a time, yes, it is a story from the past. But this is the story of the Gentle Giant I have been with for ten years of my life.
The immense size of the tree, especially when you are a five- or seven-year-old is unbelievable. I cannot remember I have seen a bigger tree than that in my life, when I think back. The tree had dark leaves in its hundreds of branches, thousands and thousands of them. Wind used to play soft songs when they dance, with leaves. Especially when the wind is high and low. when I close my eyes, it still ruminates their song and their dance.
Daily we go there, play there, sit there, under the shade of the gentle giant. He made tiny fruits, thousands of them. Not edible for humans but birds loved them. Hundreds of birds attracted by the seeds dwell there on their way. Occasionally we saw colorful visitors we have never seen before. In the morning we used to go there and collect feathers, different kinds of them, shed by them. It brought us smiles to find an illuminous colored one, a tressure to a child's mind. We had proud collections.
There were stories the Giant tree had a cave inside of it, and in it there was a big Cobra. People have seen, it is difficult to identify truth from myth, when it is entangled. Being a child, we believed our elders, I was always careful not to step on a snake, when I go closer to the tree. The branches broke out all around the trunk few feet above the ground actually there seems to be a cavity inside. Who knows maybe the cobra is still living there protecting the giant.
Once a year when it is 'Vesak' celebrations, my father and siblings we go there at night to decorate it with lanterns. Some clay lamps were lit around the tree. Cold nights, it was a ritual made by us. We stayed singing songs of devotion, until candles burn out in lanterns. Nobody asked us, to do decorate lanterns. But now when I think about it, I have nothing but gratitude for the Gentle giant. It did not move when nobody cared, it did not move when it was decorated and worshipped. A true miracle of nature.
We moved from our old home to other side of the village. Bigger house, bigger problems. After few years there was a big thundering Noice came from the side of the tree and everyone from the village went to see. We followed. I saw a huge branch of the tree fallen down broken, onto the nearby rock. It was a sad sight for me. That was the only time the Giant spoke for all those years. It still brings tears to my eyes today when I write about it. That broken branch, tears part of my heart. I haven't been to see the tree for a long time, life took us away from nature.
I still don't know he is still there; I wish I could hug him one more time.
Thank you for reading Story of a Gentle Giant - a tree
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