The Tree

Letter I ~ Late Summer

Dear Yggdrasil,

I’ve walked past you so many times. I can’t believe I never really saw you. In winter, when everything was grey you hid in the shadows until one summer evening I turned and you appeared. I’m so glad I found you. I love coming to visit you. You have been here so long I wonder if you even notice me come and go. I may visit a thousand times and for you it will be the blink of an eye.

Why is it so easy to miss the things which are right in front of me? Sometimes it takes losing something to notice how much I love it. But why wait till that point? I expect you notice everything as it passes, every gust of wind, every ray of sun, without judgement, with peaceful acceptance. Maybe that is why I feel so safe near you. I hope that slowly, with the breeze through your leaves, I can learn to be more like you.

We are both here every day, you and I, but while I feel trapped in my body, you dwell timelessly, rooted in your own presence. I don’t think my opinion or words really change anything for you, although it seems to me that you enjoy my fleeting visits. You don’t retreat or rush as I arrive, but simple exist with me as I come, whole or in pieces, bark, root and breath.

I hope I don’t annoy you by sitting on your roots and that I can come again often. I will always make sure to be gentle and approach from different sides. Your bark grounds me in your stillness, as its smooth coolness slips beneath my fingers. On late summer nights, I feel you relaxing through your roots and branches after the scorching heat of the day. It is the time that I most like to visit, when you glow golden, before the sun dips behind the horizon of the wooded hills.

It has begun to fade now and I must go.

Lucy Forest

Thank you for witnessing this first letter. More will follow, in rhythm with the seasons. If you’ve ever written to a tree, or listened to one, I’d love to hear.