Requiem for the Tree People

We are all forest dwellers together in these mountains. Surrounded by these miraculous life giving tree beings upon whom our people have depended for so much, for so long.

The forest is who we are in these parts. Incredible spirits of creative growth rising from the river bottoms up to the top of the highest peaks. Providing ineffable beauty, shade, windsong, spring green and autumn gold. Providing wood with which we build our lives and kindle our fires. The roots of trees hold together the soils of slope and riverbank.

The lives of the bird people, four leggeds, insects and even the little people all are woven within the benevolent presence of the trees. At our home along the Ivy River lie countless trees knocked over where they stand. Or having been swept along the torrent, far from where they grew, following the path we must all follow to the ocean.