Trees – The Greatest and the Most Profound Silent Storytellers

The voiceless trees have the greatest number of stories to share. Are we ready to hear?

Trees are an involuntary witness of our historic past – some have witnessed both the World Wars, some have seen people die in tragic civil wars across the globe, while some have seen nations grow and fall. Some trees have absorbed bullets and survived bomb blasts, they can tell us of the soldiers who valiantly became immortal remembering their parents, wives, and children with their last breath.

Some trees have healed, and some are still healing, hiding their scars beneath their new bark and wood. What really excites me is that no one will ever know the number of leaves a tree sheds in its entire lifetime. They silently stand where they are rooted and spend their lives in one place while witnessing our lives – the life of mobile and restless human beings. Therefore, I believe that trees are the greatest and the most profound storytellers and full of wisdom.

The voiceless trees have the greatest number of stories to tell, for they keep a more detailed record of what we read in books. Forest scientists have studied the tree rings for over a century, recognising that each combination of light and dark bands represents one year of tree growth. Studying these rings can help scientists understand ancient ecosystems and even past civilisations. This means that the history of humans and trees is in a way intertwined.

While sitting under a huge tree, I made an attempt to carve my thoughts into words written below.

If trees could talk 
With you and me
Which tree would you go to first
To share your story?

It was an autumn afternoon
And I was sitting under a big tree, 
Big enough to make me feel 
As if it is clasping me 

I once met not a human 
But a big, tall tree
Swaying its branches in an autumn breeze
And shedding its golden-brown leaves

Some trees have witnessed our distant past
While some will live a century more,
Standing against the rough weather and storms
Facing some natural calamities and wars

I felt the breeze gently blowing on my face
And decided to stay there for a while
The yellow-orange and soon to be brown leaves 
Were swaying to impress the sky

How many people would have taken abode 
By this tree trunk, thick and brown
I wonder where they would be now
Somewhere near or in some other city or town?

Trees have seen the smiles, joy, and laughter
Tears, sorrow, and pain
Seen some hearts getting broken
And mending back once again

And if a tree could talk to me
Which foregone story will it share?
I believe that story will be worth hearing
And that it will take me somewhere.

Somewhere close to understanding
And knowing what we must,
We bloom on earth like flowers
And finally, become stardust.

If we wish to hear more stories from the trees, we need to maintain and strengthen this valuable green infrastructure and invest in planting more trees – after all, these trees will tell our stories to our future generations. In the present human-dominated era, let’s give trees a fair chance to expand, grow and be our partners in sharing stories for the years to come.

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