Wise and Simple Things

Olives Trees by Lea Goldberg They withstood the heat wave and the confidence of the storm as though they had stationed themselves for eternity on the slope across from the ruined village where they silvered in the cool light of the crescent moon.

Stand still.

How abundant in this peace.

Here is ripe old age.

Listen, listen to the gusts of winds through the landscape of olives.

What modest trees.

Can you hear? They're speaking now, wise and simple things.

And Aya Koda, the esteemed 20th century Japanese author and essayist wrote, trees are not just living things, but feeling things, like us.

Better keep a watchful eye over them.

Iso, spruce, hinoki, cherry blossoms, persimmon, maple, cypress.

The trees of Japan cast a spell on those who visit its landscape.

But as a child, writer Aya Koda realized, they were more than objects of beauty.

Gifted a sapling by her father, she learned that we depend on trees as much as they do on us.

and spent a lifetime trying to understand them.