The cooling shade of trees. Our old dog knows it best. The value of a tree arching shade over the sidewalk and spilling into the asphalt road, cooling. A place to rest we haltingly walk, amble from cool patch to cool patch moving slowly through the neighborhood and the heat.
Deep green leaves wave, beckon us, remember, I was here before. Before cars, before planes, when I sunk my roots down deep to the aquifer birdsong and whistling wind were the only songs of the world. I saw the Spanish flu pass as a dark cloud as the men toiled beneath my branches testing new varieties of prune plums. I saw the soldiers go to war I, II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan…always hopeful of their return.
My branches reach wide. I am the umbrella that celebrates picnic dinners and provides peace and slow strong life. Touch my bark, feel my trunk, my sap flowing, my leaves reaching toward the sun, sit beneath me today on this earth day.Â
Imagine all that I have seen and heard, all the storms and droughts that I have weathered and feel the strength of life and renewal. Take a moment to embrace my cooling shade and listen to the birds perched on my branches.
Make a difference, save a tree, plant a tree, plant a future, plant life. Earth Day is every day.
Lesley Miles
Morgan Hill
