They're dancing to the music of the spheres. While their taller counterparts, buildings, are so inefficient, trees are the picture of efficiency, with a two-way nutritional system of light, water and gasses that is an engineering marvel. And given the chance, they'll cover the earth with it. If the substructure of a tree is chaotic, its overall look is always of order. The wild fashion it presents to the world by way of the needles, ovals, hearts, and lances on its surface defeats any attempts to impose conformity, and yet each tree has its complete integrity.
Trees are democratic in their chaos and imperial in their orderliness.
When an old tree dies, much like a good person, its trunk and branches remain for a while, as a monument and reminder of what they were, until even that falls and they become nutriment for a future generation. We live in clearings and we use tree products on a daily basis. Next year, though, I'm taking the day off and going to the woods. Barry Campbell Boyce is a writer and teacher of writing. He is president of Victory Communication.