God’s great alphabet

You only have to Google ‘trees eating things’, of course, to find lots of examples of the power of trees to absorb, including this remarkable picture, but this occasion on the right here, unimaginably far back in 2000, was the first time I’d ever come across such a thing. It fascinated me, as you will see by the expression on that innocent face. It led me to think about the inexorable, irresistible force of trees, a power that goes mostly unnoticed because it’s so gradual. It also led me to the realisation that trees are the most powerful beings on earth. Not only for this ability to encroach upon and absorb anything in their path, but also because they hold our existence in their roots and branches. If we do, finally, disastrously, end up killing them all, then we’ll all die too, and good riddance.

(The title is a quote from Leonora Speyer)

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