The Tree That Once Was Full Of Life

It is said that trees absorb the energy (whether it is positive or negative) from their surroundings. Man has a mysterious relationship with the trees from its humble beginning. I would like to share my experience of a tree residing by a small graveyard in Bada, Azad Kashmir. When I looked at the tree, I felt something very strange in it. The tree stood there with no leaves and it was giving a horrifying view of itself.

It was a tree which once stood there with all its grandeur. It was a source of shelter and happiness to the villagers. Children used to play by its side. It served the villagers with all of its strength. It loved being there to help the community. One day a kid fell down climbing it and killed himself. His parents wanted to burn that tree to ashes. But some of the wise men did not let that happen. However, they buried the kid nearby it. After that incident, people did not let their kids to play around it, because they felt that the tree had an evil spirit. With the passage of time, the tree was abandoned.

I personally feel that the leaves of that tree symbolized the villagers. As the people went away so the leaves fell apart. For a very long time, till now, the tree could not revive its previous grandeur. It is merely a barren tree now, with no life around it. Still it seems to spread its arms, waiting for the villagers to come back and embrace it.

         "You know this ending is a deception
          because of course nature is always renewing itself____
          the trees don't die, they just pretend,
          go out in style, and return in style: a new style."

                                           "Leaves" by Lloyd Schwartz, 1941