Friday Writings #228: A Dead Tree

 

Oops!  

Different time zones can be tricky to navigate. To get the post published at the midnight between Thursday and Friday, I have to set it to go live at 2pm my time. (This time of year, that is; it varies with the different times of Daylight Savings between here – Australia – and the USA, what with opposite seasons and all.)  But to do that, I have to (at this time of year) make the time 14 o'clock in the settings. This week, I forgot and pressed 2. Which means the post appeared many hours early, as our Magaly has just notified me, and for you in the Northern Hemisphere it's a day early! Never mind; if you saw it – Helen certainly did! –  please consider it an extra bonus just this once. Well, we hope it's just this once.

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I used to drive past a particular dead tree on my way into and out of this town from my small suburb. I always thought it beautiful in its starkness and shape, its slender grace. I always looked out for it, cherishing the quick glimpse.

‘I must photograph it one day,’ I told myself often. But, on that stretch of road, it’s really hard to find a park. Years went by, of appreciating it and not recording it – until one day I had a very strong feeling that I really must do it at last. 

I had to wait until I was coming back out of town; no parking at all the other side, and anyway I’d have had to cross the road in that case, in a spot with fast passing traffic and no provision for pedestrians. As it was, I had to drive some distance past the tree, pull onto a narrow nature strip, then walk back.

I was pleased with the shots I got, particularly this one (© Rosemary Nissen-Wade 2019):

Next time I drove into town, the tree was gone! WHAT??? Going back home, I slowed to pass the paddock where it used to be, and saw what looked like a pile of neatly felled logs. How could someone cut it down? I asked myself. But perhaps the owner of the land had some other use for it.

Nothing happened; months went by. Finally I slowed one day to take a longer look and saw that the pile of wood was not really so neat. I realised that the tree must have been felled by one of the big storms we’d had shortly before I saw that it was gone. Mystery solved – and beauty still lost! I am SO glad I had such a strong urge to finally stop and take my photos.

This week, for your (optional) prompt, I invite you to be inspired by this dead tree, or any other dead tree you’ve seen or imagined. Or by the idea of beauty in death, or last-minute actions that turn out to be important. Or anything else my story and/or picture suggests to you. Or, you may simply ignore the prompt and write anything at all.

Guidelines: Poetry or prose, old or new, on prompt or not, 369 words maximum (excluding title and notes), one post per person and link to that post below. Please link to us here at your post, please read what the rest of us submit (not forgetting to check back for those who arrive at the end of the week) and leave us some encouraging comments. You are of course welcome to make comments or ask questions here too.

Next week: We will invite you to find inspiration in the idea of letting go of something that used to be wonderful, which no longer fits in your life.