The Tree

 If I had known it would be the last time I saw you, saw the sun shining through your branches, I would have said goodbye properly.

Though I had been preparing for you to be gone it was still as shock that you were no longer there.  You were not healthy, not strong. It was your time.  Still you provided shelter for the birds, a perch for the cat, shade for us humans. 

The view looks strange without you there.  Empty.  We will miss you.

So will the birds.  And the cat.

"I am afraid to die", Freddie told Daniel. We all fear what we don't know, Freddie. "It's natural", Daniel reassured him. " Yet you were not afraid when Spring became Summer. You were not afraid when Summer became Fall. They were natural changes. Why should you be afraid of the season of death?"

"Does the tree die too?" Freddie asked.

"Someday. But there is something stronger than the tree. It is Life. That lasts forever and we are all part of Life".

"Where will we go when we die?"

"No one knows for sure. That is the great mystery!"

"Will we return in the Spring?"

"We may not, but Life will"

"The what has been the reason for all of this?" Freddie continued to question. "Why were we here at all if we only have to fall and die?"

Daniel answered in his matter of fact way, "It's been about the sun and the moon. It's been about the happy times together. It's been about the shade, and the old people and the children. It's been about the colours in the Fall. It's been about the seasons. Isn't that enough?"

an excerpt from The Fall of Freddie the Leaf

This post is dedicated to Rino Tesolin (August 4, 1931 - April 28, 2014).  

I will miss our chats. The birds will miss you too.  

Thanks for looking out for Dad.