“Listen to the trees as they sway in the wind.
Their leaves are telling secrets. Their bark sings songs of olden days as it grows around the trunks. And their roots give names to all things.
Their language has been lost.
But not the gestures.”
―Vera Nazarian
What have you learned from listening to trees?
Strange that this should be the current question since rather recently I have discovered qualities about trees that never crossed my mind before. Once, while I was waiting for a group of visitors to an outdoor monument for a tour, I had time to sit and look at the trees, nearby and in the distance. Each tree had its own distinctive way of playing with the wind. The movements were so different that they appeared to me to be in a ballet, each performing its own performance. Now, because of todays’ reminder, I can remember that experience with the addition of the swishing, rustling brushing sounds that I didn’t consider at the time.
Thanks!
When I sold my house on a well-wooded lot and moved to a 55+ apartment complex, I thought I would l miss looking out at my trees very much. I even used to do some pretty good birding right in my own backyard. At the apartment complex, there are no tall trees except the palms in the pool courtyard, which my apt. overlooks. However, I learned that I can enjoy the palms in a different way. They make a much more distinct swishing sound in brisk wind or heavy rain, as if they are talking to me. It is a sound I like and find both soothing and energizing, if that makes any sense?
Interesting that we have both discovered the sounds of trees in later life. I still live in a rented home but I have trees in the back yard area that form a screen against other houses but the trees, in all of the seasons, seem to talk to me. Thanks for your remark, Margaret.