Looking out at the trees on a winter day, there is much to see.  The big, mature oaks with their grey, furrowed bark are interspersed with their younger, smoother barked neighbors.  The green needles on the pines shine in the sunlight, and the red maple’s crimson-tipped twigs add color to the winter landscape.  

     But at night it’s a different story.  Gone with the light are the color and detail that had been so abundant by day.  All that is transformed into a different ‘persona,’ assumed by the trees at night.  When I see them out my window in the darkness, I am riveted by something sober and powerful.      

     Blacker than the night sky, bare limbs stretching upward, the silhouettes of tupelo and chestnut oaks stand silent and strong.   Night after night, grasping the cold, hard earth from which they grow, the trees loom near our house.  They are stalwart beings.  

     What is it about the trees at night that so captures my attention?  The answer has only just come to me.   Looking at them through my nighttime window, I feel that these somber, dark beings are my protectors.  The trees are always there – in snow and rain and cold, in the full moon and on the darkest night–standing guard. –April Moore 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 9:21 am and is filed under Celebrating our beautiful Earth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.