Language of the Tree

I really enjoy looking at tree bark - the whorls and swirls of bark as it moves up the trunk of the tree. It overlaps like house shingles. And it eddies around limbs and around the stumps of fallen limbs. You see the tree holes, and the flow of the bark around them.

The patterns are mesmerizing, like watching water that is stopped.

It really seems like something is written on the tree, by the tree, over and over again.

And when a vine climbs the tree, it is even more beautiful, especially in the autumn when the vine turns red.

It is amazing how the bark can so thoroughly absorb all of my attention, as if it presents some kind of meditation or hypnotic trance.

The bark is finer grained on other trees, looking as if it is crisscrossing up the trunk. It’s fun to follow the pattern up the tree – then take it in all at once, like watching the sea waves.

Thank you tree for showing your rhythm where you stand.

Perhaps next time you see a tree, say “Hi”, and feel how it wells up its life energy from the ground into the sky thru the visual language of its bark.