Imagine this

As I close my eyes and sit here under this tall oak, I wonder what it has seen in its years and years of living. Imagine all of the stories a tree could tell us about 100 years. I am sure you can tell many stories of the 30 years or 10 years or 75 years you have lived, and they would all be very intriguing, but none like this tree. Planted in the same spot, growing from a young seed. Imagine the land 100 years ago. Perhaps it was a vast, barren landscape and the only thing for miles was this singe tree. With grassy meadows for miles and miles. Imagine the quiet nights and the blanket of stars that would have lingered above in the open sky. Think about the storms that may have went on and perhaps the wars that were fought right above the roots that grow for miles under this ground. As years went by the landscape surely changed, whether it grew homes or streets or just got the meadow cut. And think about the simple small things, that only took a second, but would be amazing to see. Maybe this was home of a pair of lovers first kiss. And maybe someone else took their last breath here. The animals that have lived and died, come and gone to and from this tree. And it can’t say a word of it. Cannot speak of the things it surely has endured. There are chips in the trunk but still leaves on the branches. What would it be like to lose leaves every winter to grow new ones in the spring? I bet you haven’t even thought of all these things. You have seen what you have seen in your life and that is enough. You have travelled and seen the world while this tree stood strong and unmovable day by day by day. The world has seen it, but it has never moved. And imagine the underground. A root system so complex, twisting and stretching and growing, and you will never know the details without disturbing its perfect nature. Imagine the people this tree has seen walk under its trunk. Tall, short, small, big, old, young… and the personalities this tree has experienced, imagine the things it has heard said. Secrets whispered beneath its branches and hidden among the silence of the leaves. What emotion has this tree felt? Loneliness? Or has it adapted to being alone. Or is it never truly alone because the stars are always above it and the dirt all around it? Has it felt peace or fear? Does it like silence or the sounds of its leaves rustling in the wind. What has been built, broke, saved, lost, found, created and changed around this tree. This one simple tree, there are a million things it would say if it could speak at all. It is sad that it can’t… and so, we can only imagine…

Stories of a Silent Oak
Words whispered
But never heard
Beneath the shade
The worlds obscured
Things change and grow
Forever adapt
And in this place
A stories been mapped
Imagine the things
I will never say
The things I have seen
Day by day
The people and things
That have come and gone
The good and the bad
The right and the wrong
Imagine the rainfall
The calm and the storms
The cold winter days
And the summers so warm
First lovers kiss
And innocence lost
Carved into my trunk
Names grown over with moss
The wars and the peace
Both come and gone
The landscape long changed
Under this sun
Imagine everything
From years in this spot
Things that others
Have surely forgot
These are the stories you’ll never hear
A development of a hundred years
And although these words I’ll never say
I will stand and see, day by day