The Answer

Letter IV ~ Late Summer

Dear Yggdrasil,

I fear for the ancient woodlands. I have known so many, like yours, which have been lost. But really it is my kind, the humans, who have lost our way. We claim to care about trees, our planet, our oceans but all we do is bicker amongst each other. About regulations, about who owns what, about the perfect way forward. How do we manage to forever rush and yet do nothing? We sit at our desks becoming more and more distant from each other and from you. All meanwhile the clock is ticking down. Time is running out.

I don’t expect you will ever reply to me. But that’s ok. I am not speaking in the hope of an answer, your presence is answer enough. Things that seem big to me are just like a passing of a wind in the leaves to you. While I live here I will keep coming to visit you.

Ten minutes of silence in your presence is greater than ten hours of conversation with another. You do not mind whether I talk or stay quiet, and there is so much that I have to tell you.

Yet that is nothing to what I will learn if I begin to truly listen to you speak in your own way.

Here conclude the Summer Letters. The Equinox approaches, fast as the wind, rushing over stormy green hills.

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If you are concerned about safeguarding our trees and woods for the future, please see my work on this here: Ancient Woodlands UK or donate directly here to support our youth-led campaign.