Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Last Day in the Sun
I’ll watch tomorrow when the men come with saws, shave away your branches, amputate your limbs, prepare you for grinding. I will remember your shade and protection, the glory of your leaves against the sky. I will be here for your passing.
8 Comments on “Last Day in the Sun”
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Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
I do maintenance and groundskeeping for an apartment complex. Sometimes when I’m yanking weeds I ask myself what makes a particular plant a weed. I’m not talking about the ones that are like nothing but thorns (even though roses have them) but the ones that just kinda look like any other plant growing out of the ground. What makes them uglier than haciendas? I actually feel a little guilty spraying Round-Up on dandelions. They’re pretty goddamit. Who am I to judge? Sometimes I feel like one of the bad guys on Fern Gully 🙂
Oh, that is sad. I hate it when a good tree is lost.
Oh man, I don’t know if that’s your photo of the tree or one you found online, but it looks exactly like my favorite tree in our neighborhood and I dread the day they cut it down. I love your tone of resignation and reverence for this tree.
I’ve never owned a yard, but I get how the features of one inadvertently become characters in a life. Sorry the fair tree is coming down today. Plant three more to keep its memory alive?
What you captured is so true, that trees are such a large (physically and emotionally) presence in our lives. It does feel like a loss when one is gone.
Also, love this picture.
Jan, I love how your repayment is intimate and grand at the same time. And “…the glory of your leaves against the sky” is a breathtaking line.
Love how you remind us to remember the beauty of this world that is lost to progress and modernization. Lovely job! ♥
Reminds me of the meme I see these days on how people panic if they don’t get a WiFi signal but seemingly do not care if trees are chopped down. You, right here, have done incredible justice to the idea of gratitude we must all profess.