The Valley

Letter IX ~ Autumn

Dear Yggdrasil,

What does home mean to you? Is it this beautiful valley where you have set root, or do those roots remember the tree from which you fell, the place where you landed and the wings of the bird that carried you? Do your leaves ever long for another place, to feel a different wind?

Somehow I believe that you embody your past, present and future, always, as one. I do not see urgency to change in you, yet you are always changing. Perhaps home is the blackbird that carries away your beechnut, and the squirrel that scuttles up your trunk.

Would you still be Yggdrasil, if you stood in a different valley? I think you would.

I want to be more like you in this. It takes me so long to get used to a new place, as though it changes my very essence. And yet, I am learning from you that this need not be the case, even though you never move. The valley is your vessel, but your sap, your bark, your strength, are your own. You change with condition, but in essence stay the same.

Perhaps home for you is truly your own being. I have no idea how you achieve this, but maybe one day you will share it with me? I am getting better at listening to you, although I know my visits must seem short.

I want to learn to be how you are, changing without rushing, moving forward without pursuit and staying still when the world around me is still.