This spring I had the opportunity to walk and move with trees in Sussex, England. The spring is just beginning to call forth leaves and flowers on some of the trees, but mostly they are still showing their beautiful branch-forms against the sky without the adornment of leaves.
Each tree has its own unique crown, some solitary in their royalty and others in communion. One of the oldest trees growing in this area is the yew. The dense darkness of its crown invites density, gravitas and substance. The contrast of the light streaming beneath the reaches of the crown grows the space of the sunsphere.
The magnificence of the flowering magnolias has been glorious. What a way to delight in coronation!
It is so wonderful that in English we call the branches “limbs”. Look at how these are reaching out into the landscape!
Each tree has it’s own gesture, including these budding chestnut trees with leaves unfurling like fingers.
The birch trees’ branches hang languid and move so easily when the wind blows. Watching them sway to the rhythm of the breeze, I am moved by the waves of movement – how moments of activity are interspersed with rest.
The willows are coming into leaf. The contrast of dark solidity of the trunk and the light-filled leafy boughs was an inspiration!
As I walked through the woods I came across some roots exposed in the earth, like the joint between index finger and thumb.
Who knows where this mysterious finger was leading to?