THE MYSTERY OF OUR LOVE                     

 

 

The very first memory I have is of when I lived in a housing project in Virginia

 

It was called Hillwood Square and there were small houses, joined and set one beside

 

another along sidewalks that extended for about a hundred yards.

 

Along these sidewalks to the right and left were grass lawns and then the rowhouses

 

A smaller walk went between the main sidewalk and any particular house.

 

Up and down the sidewalk were very large oak trees. Their trunks were 2-1/2 to 3

 

feet in diameter. They rose up straight for a long time before there were any

 

branches at all. Then they spread out in a glorious, seemingly thunderous foliage. They

 

must of been 150ft tall. They were the largest living things I had ever seen.

 

The forest must of been carefully cut down around them leaving them standing, one

 

beside another, up and down the long sidewalk.

 

One day I was walking down the sidewalk. It must of been within the first 5

 

years of my life. This is the first thing I remember in this life. . .

 

I felt the trees feeling me.

 

The silence became very loud and filled with the sense of 'other' living presence.

 

We felt each other, the trees and I.

 

I bathed in their ancient quiet regard, their community of living.

 

I sensed my smallness and their hugeness. I felt them feeling my size as well.

 

I felt my individuality well up like a secret, just between us.

 

No one else knew this thing.

 

In just this way I now, also feel the immense presence of a Tree.

 

An ancient oak of love. It towers over the paths we walk and the things we say

 

and feel.

 

It is the oak of our life, of our love. It does not call out but it is present.

 

When I become aware of it, I become aware of how small we are. I become aware

 

of how vast is our life. I sense a great and vibrant community. This feeling is

 

secret, just between us. Like the rhizome of a mushroom that only shows

 

itself around it's fruiting edges, it is a surprise.

 

No one else knows this thing.

 

It is the mystery of our love.