Maple Tree

Maple Wood, how I loathe you. I am sick and tired of constantly needing to talk about this tree. I just wish I could sit down and write, write, and write some more about you. Why are you not writing this story for me? Are you too tall and gangly for me to wrap my words around you? Or would you prefer if I just stare at a blank screen slowly filling up with these words, until I am finally blue in the face?

You are quite tall. Your bark zigs and zags underneath my fingers. In the springtime ants crawl up to drink from the mossy syrup creek.

What if I were to hold my breath for a really long time, until you stoop over to give me mouth-to-mouth? Clearly, that will not do. How about I think of all the maple syrups I have been given over the years and think about how you felt giving me some of your sap so I may better enjoy my pancakes? Your syrup is nice and thick. Now, I can picture your 5 tipped leaves. Of course, never having been to see you in person means, you must only reside on a well-lit environment as the sun bathes you in his glow.

Now, we are getting somewhere. Just like any other tree, you must have weathered 100s or even 1000s of storms. You have been protecting squirrels and birds in your branches. You may have even felt your brothers and sisters being cut down in the distance. If this is truly a fantasy, then you even stretched your legs to find greener pastures. Each year, you feel a prick as someone turns on a faucet. It is only for an instant. that you feel very slightly drained. Then you feel a spiderlike hug on your bark.

As your roots breach the surface of the ground, one tendril at a time pulls you out of your comfort zone. The ground lifts you up by forming fingers just beneath your majestic trunk. Then the fingers grasp each other as they gain strength enough for you to rise. You no longer take your time with only one root pulling you up. Now you use a few of your strongest roots on each side to do so. For you, it is both nerve-wracking and gratifying as you pull yourself up and you are pushed up by the ground. Your branches move down for an instant and then bounce back to their relaxed state. You do this from time to time to make sure you still can.

However, today is different. You want to move into the forest to better hear small folk around a fire. Your psychic abilities are heightened during this time of year. In your mind's eye, you can see them through a haze. Their laughter bristles your bark. You just want to acknowledge and be acknowledged by the fire and their lilting laughter.