Acrylic on Japanese paper DM for limited prints Original reserved
***** Last year's storm pulled out this beautiful tree that stood in my friend Deb's yard in Halifax. Although I met this tree only through her nostalgic posts with before and after pictures, it has grown into me triggering the memories of a neem tree that was a part of my childhood.
It was no storm which decided the fate of that neem which stands shrouding all my prominent memories from that time of my life spent in the ancestral home in India. It was my grand father who decided that the tree had grown too strong and that was not good for the house.
Those images are still raw in my memory - of the humongous tree fresh on the ground, cut into huge logs, wet in its own oozing sap and all the bird nests built on it scattered all around. The army of men who brought it down, looked like ants carrying dead carcasses, as they piled the logs on one corner of the yard.
As soon as Autumn winds gained strength, our neighbors here in Toronto, brought down a few trees. Winds are always a concern - that the tree or it's branches that grew wild and free during spring and summer, may now break a roof or window of the house. Houses can not adjust to it's surroundings. Trees must go hence.
The absent foliage has punched holes in the lush canopy one enjoyed in our backyard. These holes expose a horizon I never saw before. I wish they did not cut the trees. I am glad they did not cut all of them! Everyone has their own reasons, that also change with seasons.
Deb's tree came down because nature decided to. It was not the doing of a human. Some solace, although mute witness to these changes.
Some trees can leave a lasting impression in our lives. Almost all of them do if you watch then. Both their presence and absence can change us. Some of these changes are irreversible.
- B'lu
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