Thursday, September 3, 2009

I Dreamt of Cut Down Trees

A :en:sweet chestnut forest in the swiss alps(...Image via Wikipedia

I dreamt they've cut down the trees again...
Since I saw for the first time a tree without all its crown branches, a mere stump, a grotesque apparition, I freeze when I hear the sound of some electric saw.
When we moved here in Israel we lived in a sordid neighborhood and the only thing that helped me carry on was a majestic tree, growing near the window of our living room. It was huge and beautiful, with vivid green shiny leaves. When the wind rustled its leaves, I could hear a soothing sound, like a lullaby...
And then "they" came one day and with heart splitting and hair raising sounds "trimmed" the tree, cutting of its marvelous crown, leaving only the trunk, indecently exposed. I tried to argue with the men doing it and when I asked why did they do it, they answered serenely :"Too many falling leaves to clean. To much work".
Well, that left me spechless. I had to endure a morning of cutting and crashing and I cried for two days afterwards.
Then, "they" did the same with another beautiful tree that grew up in front of our building. It had a bench under it and in the hot israeli summer it gave shade for the people that sat on it, to the kids thay played in the dirt under the tree. Of course, I failed again, in spite of my arguments. I simply didn't understand why...
But you know what was the amazing fact? That some time afterwards, from the trunk started to grow tiny shoots, the branches to be, fragile and trembling, with frail and pale green leaves. After a couple of years the crowns were back, even if a bit mis-shaped, like something interfered with their growing. And now, well, now the building is a private property and nobody bothers to hire a gardener, so every tree and bush grows wild, giving the place a jungle-like appearance, like they wanted to seek revenge for what happened . Every time I pass by, I feel my heart beating with joy.
But I couldn't forget and now and then, when I'm stressed or something, I have this nightmare, that I wake up in the morning and all the trees are cut completely, or they had their crowns "trimmed" to the trunk. And it is like a post apocaliptic scenery, everything gray and eerie and quiet and I can almost feel the trees' pain and humiliation.
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1 comment:

Chats the Comfy Cook said...

This happened. I was visiting someone and a hurricane was heading our way. Everyone evacuted. We did not.

The next morning, we were surrouded by debris and the forest across the tree had a few singular trees standing, stark against the sky. A barren wasteland - no more playground, no more forest, no more walking paths.