To Touch a Tree

Leaves, Green Hand -- The Entwining Spiral of Life *

     

Tree ** 

Eats brilliant sunrays

Uplifts feathered green arms

Bridges blue sky, brown earth.

     Not only do I talk to trees, I touch trees. Yet who touches whom? Where does the impetuous or desire come to lay my hand on a tree, feel the bark, leaves, branches, and twigs. To commune with nature through tactile contact.  The book, The Heart Beat of Trees, details research on the benefits we humans receive from being in the presence of trees. The author a German forester took a television personality out into the woods to measure the physiological impact on her body. First though he measured  her blood pressure and pulse rate while walking in a city. Not surprisingly her blood pressure and pulse rate dropped in the forest. Japanese researchers tested subjects, no not white mice,  real humans, some subjects they sent to visit a forest and some subjects they sent to walk in the city. They found that cancer killing cells and anti-cancer proteins increased in the people who visited the forest. Not in those who visited the city. A similar study done in Korea found that the subjects, in this case older women had improved blood pressure, lung capacity and elasticity of the arteries in those walking in the forest over those who walked in the city.

      

        I'm fortunate. I live within a block of an older neighborhood where I walk every morning. This older neighborhood's demarcation is clearly seen in the size of the trees. Many of the trees tower over the ranch style homes built in the early nineteen fifties. Much of my walk is in shade, sometimes I have to duck under leaves and limbs that hang over the sidewalk. Cardinals, robins, chickadees, wrens, mourning doves and more serenade me each day from their tree top perches. Last year a Red Tail Hawk pair raised a family in a nest in a large white pine in a backyard. This year Great Horned Owls took over the nest to raise a family and help reduce the rabbit and rodent population.  

        Now large Ash Trees infested with emerald ash borers are all dying. Other trees like an old paper birch show their age with peeling bark and dead limbs that need to be trimmed. Studies done in Toronto found that neighborhood trees improved health of the citizens. The more trees the better the health of residents. I grew up on a short street in southern Indiana. The weather hot and very humid in the summer. Large Silver Maple trees lined our narrow street. I could walk down the middle of our street at noon and still be in the shade. 

       Donner Park with a swimming pool was only a few blocks from our house. To get to the pool I walked with siblings on a gravel path through the park under large trees with markers identifying the species. Maples, oaks of different varieties, tulip poplars and large smooth barked beeches. I frequently lingered on the way home to look, marvel at the trunks and note the distinctive features of the tree, the leaf shape, bark texture those differing characteristics associated with the name.

        Near where I live now a spring arises just across the street from a manufacturing plant. Above the spring live and grow two great white oaks. Guardians of the spring. The spring supports a lush growth of water cress.  Further down stream the spring provides habitat for wild trout. 

    These two great old oaks seem like a dedicated married couple who have supported and encouraged each other over the years to grow vibrant healthy and strong. I measured the diameter of the oaks to estimate their age. ***

          The larger one sprouted from an acorn in 1779 making it an estimated 232 years of age. The slightly smaller one sprouted from an acorn in 1810 making it an estimated 211 years old. These may be remnants of the forest that existed here before early settlers began farming the land. 

        To get a picture that truly depicts the size of the trunks, limbs and scope of their sprawling canopy seems impossible. The trunk diameter of the smaller one is over forty-two inches the trunk of the larger one is almost forty-six and a half inches. The root structure underground must be enormous and deep to support both trees. What history have these trees witnessed?

    Prairie Mound Cemetery in Oregon has a historical marker for a Revolutionary War Veteran buried there named Nathaniel Ames. Ames at age 18 signed up and served several short enlistments under General George Washington. Taken prisoner by the British he survived to be discharged in 1783. A Methodist preacher he moved to Wisconsin in 1836 and farmed a section of land a mile from the Village of Oregon. Nathaniel Ames died in 1863 at the ripe old age of 102 years. 

        I wonder if Nathaniel ever preached or picnicked with parishioners by this spring under the shade of these two oaks while still in their youth. Could he have placed his hands against their trunks to bless them and wish for them too to have a long life.

         These two old timers have a history. A story of survival and growth through storms, drought and seasons of heavy snow. Yet I can only speculate on what they may have witnessed. The people and deer that came to the spring to drink the clear cold water. The accelerating growth of development. The muddy or dusty wagon tracks turned into gravel then blacktop. The houses and commercial buildings replacing farmland. The cutting of the other trees that they had grown with and that had been a forest of friends. 

        Hard to imagine trees considering their survival.  Their place growing together on the bank over the spring where they spread their canopy of summer green to provide shade, a place to linger and rest out of the sun for we two legged visitors. Their presence provides a sense of peace.

        Maybe that's what caused me to take notice, place my hand against their bark. The desire to feel the presence of a living history much longer than my own. To absorb a sense of well being with another sentient being. To relax, commune with these elder statesmen.  

    Here's a poem inspired while walking under my neighborhood trees on the longest day of the year the summer solstice.

After the Rain!

After the rain,

Cooling on 

The longest day 

Of the year;

The wind brisk,

Rustling, tossing

Every tree limb

And leaf;

The sound 

Reaches beyond

The familiar,

Reaches 

Into the depth

Of 

Eternal comfort.

        Thanks for joining me. May you find, shade, peace and serenity while appreciating the amazing trees and forest that live in your neighborhood, parks and country!  

 

  Post Script: Yesterday we had a long steady rain. Today I went down to look at those two large White Oaks again. I found a large limb from the largest tree that hung over the spring had broken off. The limb lay in the spring. I had noticed when measuring the trees that the older one had shelf mushrooms growing out of the base. I also noticed a dark pile of saw dust, probably the work of carpenter ants. This tree may be nearing the end of its living history. Time will tell.

*The talented artist who created this wonderful depiction happens to be my sister Judith.

** The poem Tree first published in the authors collection of poetry and prose titled, A Journey In The Human Dilemma, Living a Koan. 

*** How to Estimate the Age of an Oak Tree, by Teo Spengler found on the website homeguides.sfgate.com.

About the author; Anthony G. Hendricks, retired environmental engineer, now works on his poetry and prose full time. Last year he published The Waste Land Revisited; an epic book length poem describing the ongoing dystopia leading to global warming. Now getting his Novel novel; Buddha Blues, ready for publication. (His sister also created the cover for this work in spite of his requesting, suggesting many changes. Luckily she still has all of her hair. Love you Sis.) He lives in Oregon, Wisconsin with his wife Darlene who provides great editing and feedback on his work.