Living with Trees

Living with Trees

When walking along the roads near were we now are living, in the Hills above Melbourne, I took these pictures of giant trees. Various particular giant trees grown in these mountains, and other trees, grown all over the world, also grow to huge heights here.

Fear of Trees

Hylophobia, also known as xylophobia, ylophobia, and dendrophobia, is a psychological disorder defined by a fear of wood, forest and trees.

 We probably all have felt it at some time.

Is it just a fear of wild things living there?

Or that the trees will pull up their roots and chase you?

See Birnam Wood in Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Or the walking trees in Lord of the Rings

But, like most fears we can do something about them. 

You can be amazed by the glory of these giants, fantasise about them, write a poem about them, or just sand still and let your senses take it all in. 

While you stand there you can hear sounds and smell the natural scents, sounds, or you can go close and feel the bark and leaves. 

Trees and Creativity

 

Margaret Doubler, 'Dance a Creative Art Experience

Life’s experience comes from the interaction between man and nature- man and his social world, man and himself. In this interaction human energy is gathered and released, resulting in experiences that exalt us and depress us. There are rhythmic pulsations that run the emotional gamut from achievement to failure, from hope to despair, each with its own defining characteristics of tension and movement.

John Paynter, Sound and Silence

When we look closely at nature and are filled with wonder by its intricacies, we are often moved and must find a way of expressing our feelings, it is from here that the arts spring, as do all aspects of language and the need to communicate ideas and emotions.

One response might be to write a poem.  

(This is a very well known poem that I recited when a child at a church concert and it still resonates with me. )

Trees by Joyce Kilmer

 I think that I shall never see

 A poem lovely as a tree.

 A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

 Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

 A tree that looks at God all day,

 And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

 A tree that may in Summer wear

 A nest of robins in her hair;

 Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

 Who intimately lives with rain.

 Poems are made by fools like me,

 But only God can make a tree.

Another Response might be to Plant a Tree

They may eventually become larger than you expected

Even though when you plant a tree you  know you will probably never see it when it reaches its full beauty, meanwhile you can  watch it gradually change as it grows, and it can please you to know that someone else might benefit. At present I want to grow some more large trees. I desperately want a copper beech and a couple of forest pansies, plus a golden pencil pine. The aim is to add colour in front of the green mass of forest trees that form the background of this garden in the mountains behind Melbourne.

My Dogwood is out flower right now

In the right climate even a silver birch with become a giant, eventually.