One day

The wind was strong that day; I remember that as it howled and swept down the hills and through the gully, almost as if it too wanted to escape, not bowing to any man nor standing still for a moment. My thoughts had left me along with any words that could describe the ache i felt in my heart. As i stood there amongst a single tree. Autumn had past and winter had set in. Leaving the tree empty of any leaves, appearing to be completely dead to the human eye. I knew this not to be real, a silly mistake at first.

The bark had been burnt black, with the aroma of smoke still clinging to the tree's atmosphere. The branches wrapped around each other as if it was caught in an enchanted dance, fighting to be the one on top. The roots pocked out of the ground to escape the earth only to dip back in, as if the light was too much. I knew, in that moment I wish I could hide and pretend that none of this was real. A nightmare i had pictured, waiting to wake up, if only reality wasn't so cruel.

The light streamed across the valley bringing with it a new day. The sun rose into the sky creating the vision of death. This day wasn't the day of battle but the day after, the day that showed the dead, the blood that stained the earth to be scrubbed away, swept away from the eyes of the mothers with no sons, the sisters without brothers and the lovers torn apart. The battle had been almost silent, a stand still until both parties in one moment crashed into each other, taking only seconds to create chaos. The cries of war filling the air leaving behind an echo of silence that couldn't be disturbed.

Crows flew over head scavenging the remains, the few soldiers that had survived were moving away leaving the town with despair. I had stumbled to the tree with my heart feeling as if it had been crushed and dislodged into the bottom of my stomach. My legs were weak, barley holding me up swaying as if i was a wave crashing against the thorns of land, creating a swell that swept me away. But they stood firm and remained constant, wavering but never falling. As I stared at a scene that didn't make sense, wondering how such cruelty could exist in this world. I wanted to scream to the world, for ever one to stop and share the anguish in my heart, to prove to me that the death of this man wouldn't be unnoticed that the ticking of clocks would stop, stopping time forever but all that surrounded me was silence and knowing that silence was my only solitude I collapsed into its arms praying for it to take me away.

I awoke to a stream of light playing against the tree, the smell of smoke infused in the air and ash underneath my fingernails as I clawed the soil. I stared into the empty space with no emotion or answers, the illusion of light upon the twigs and branches creating shadows that past and disappeared to be a new seconds later, this cycle repeating itself. I don't know how long I laid at the foot of the tree watching the light, the blue sky was replaced with pinks and oranges that were sprayed across the sky and the light that had slowly escaped my notice had started to disappear traveling to the trunk of the tree.

The air had became still with a light breeze enchanting my hair, the swell it created slowly dyed down releasing its captures. Bringing a new chill that skimmed down my spine. The bark was hard against me, puncturing my exposed skin and scratching at my back when I moved. I pulled at the bark snapping a piece as it cracked off, destroying my silence echoing into the air. I looked to the damage i had caused and realized that the black bark had been exposed to the outside was a false layer. The tree wasn't truly dead just a reminder of the hate that humans can create. It wasn't dead, it was alive and constant. that the fire that had swept across its surface hadn't killed its being, that inside it lived.

The tree was strong and tall with the edges of the branches disappearing away from my eyes into the clouds as if it was a gate way to somewhere far far away. The tree was both beautiful and frightening in its domain hanging above the sky, shielding me from the world creating a temporary limbo between fantasy and reality.

The burnt tree would eventually return to normal. Through the seasons the leaves would return and the brown milky coat of the bark would be back again. Making the burnt layers a distant memory. In the spring flowers would bloom and the leaves would return and the limbs would stand tall and seem invincible. In autumn they would turn to shades of orange's, red and brown before shivering up and falling back to the earth and with the help of the wind the leaves would blow away with the entry of winter.

In winter there would be no leaves a reminder to me of the day he was taken way, the day I realized that life goes on. That this tree is constant and strong. Things grow and die, that evil and good exists in the world. The world doesn't stop and that time cant be reframed. Life carries on and like the tree i would grow, change and die but this tree would forever stand tall that one day it will be whole again.