I have a friend …
stately and strong, towering over , soaring to dizzying heights. He is a beautiful blue spruce, whom I greatly admire.
He is extremely tall, possibly 40 feet in height and rather thin. When the wind blows he sways, dramatically and jubilantly in the sky , like a Moko Jumbie man dancing on his stilts in the carnival.
In high winds, the kids have often wondered if he might come crashing down .. on us. But he has never given me a moments worry, as I assure them, He is strong enough to bend.
He actually resides in the neighbours yard, so he doesn’t ‘belong’ to me, but I believe he knows just how much I admire his strength. He guides me too, with the wisdom of his years. When we first bought this house, there he was among the many trees that we admired. Beautifully framing our property. When I look to him now, I am reminded of our first neighbour here, not too much older than me, how kind she was to my littles, and how very much she loved the myriad of flowers and plants, that crowded our yards. Then she got sick and later she died and that lovely spruce and I looked on in sadness as new home owners ripped out many of the flowers that she had worked so hard to cultivate with Love and admiration in her gardens, that selflessly offered us their beauty. But we, my tall friend and I, we remember Glenyce still.
Each time the house next door has changed hands since then, we each, the spruce and I, say a silent little prayer that my beautiful old friend will be spared a harsh extermination.
So in this, he teaches me the importance of beauty, and kindness and compassion. He is not young, I am certain – not at that height, and I am humbled by his age and the wisdom he offers.
Sometimes when the winds of the world have been particularly harsh, he is forced to lay down a few branches and I am worried that he may become stripped, bare, exposed and bitter. Instead, when I look up to the sky, there he is standing just as tall, quietly bearing his loss, showing not a bit of resentment. Somehow, resiliently he adapts, he stretches, he sways, he soothes. He allows the squirrels to tickle him up and down, never once does he complain or cast them out. The Sharp-shinned Hawk comes to rest on his very top, probably eyeing up a sparrow or two, but he does not stand in judgement. This too is the circle of life he signals to me.
He is lucky enough to be surrounded by friends, who shelter him and lend their delicate scents to harmonize with his own in pines and cedar. They help to keep him strong and make him feel less alone in the world. Once or twice flying bits of rubbish have lodged themselves on his branches, but he won’t hold on to such things for long. He appears confident enough to recognized the majesty of his own natural beauty.
He offers the beautiful gift of perspectives. As his gaze soars literally above the tree tops, and when he looks down it is always in kindness, and reverence, never once failing to spot the beauty that dances around his toes.
He teaches me much, my beautiful friend, and somehow he never makes me feel … small.
Each morning when I open the blinds, I look to him … for reassurance of life.
He is tall, he is strong, he is rooted so beautifully, and deeply in the earth. He sways in the breeze, in the soothing rhythm of life. He is wise and he is kind, and he remains always strong enough to bend.
And in this he comforts me.
He is my neighbour, I guess, my teacher, my guide, but more than this … he is my friend.
As I look out at him happily dancing in the sunshine against a beautiful blue sky, I always smile ..
and I know he,
is smiling too ♥
blue spruce and me
