The Ends of the Tree.
- Thando Xaba
- May 27, 2020
- 4 min read
The ends of the tree were stretching themselves to the heavens. Twigs carving holes into the clear blue sky. There was something that encaptivated the young man and young woman to the tree. This tree that winter had robbed of its green leaves and signs of life. In that moment however, the young man and young woman felt a swift change in the winds. The ends of the tree began orchestrating the rhythm of their hearts.
He stood looking at the grey slender tree and thought of it when it was full of life. He imagined the tree in the middle of summer when it stood proudly, beautifully dressed in forest green leaves. Leaves that could provide shade to all walks of life whether it be humans or ants. He likened the tree to the tree he first hugged back home. Unlike the tree back home, this one is merely going through the seasons. Unlike the reincarnation of the tree back home, this slender tree with its ends carving holes into the clear blue sky is merely going through a repeated cycle. He believes that God is in everything around us and if we only but listen, we will hear the messages that God is trying to tell us. However, with this tree the voice of God was rendered silent. It was if the tree only got its messages in the summer, when all is going well. For in the winter, like many humans, the harsh conditions of facing a cold reality left it alone and useless.
He looked at the young woman beside him. A smile slowing cracked his face. He could not help it. After all, it was her who pointed out the tree. He liked that. He enjoyed that in that moment, they were in unison of something. At the moment, the tree got meaning. That tree now had significance. He looked at the young woman with her full cheeks and teeth perfectly shaped that gave a smile only rivaled by sunsets over open waters. Her short yet elegant self absorbing the calm presence of the tree. He wondered what she made of the tree. Were her sentiments the same as his? Was the tree just a passing fancy or something that meant something to her? Even though it felt that their heartbeats were in perfect unison in that moment, he wondered whether indeed they were. This tree with its ends slowly carving the clear blue sky began carving into his heart.
She stood looking at the tree and gestured they leave. Moments later, they saw another tree, which was smaller in comparison to the first. She once more stood for a moment to absorb the presence of the tree. To him he enjoyed these moments. He enjoyed these moments for he understood moments defy the laws of time. Moments are the ones that remain eternal. That moment where they both felt something together, he knew that for him this is was special. He felt courage suddenly overwhelming him. He felt words rushing from his heart to his tongue ready to burst out. Sweat slightly forming in the palms of his hands. He began losing grip of reality. Lost in the moment he was ready to let it out. How he felt and how those emotions have been keeping him up at night. She had to know. As he opened his mouth to let those words jump from his tongue into the unknown, she gestured they move on. The moment was over. The window of opportunity- closed.
The tree slowly retracted its ends from the clear blue skies and from his heart. They were walking now to a destination not clearly defined. The words that were dancing on his tongue slowly drifted back into his heart. Sweat dried in his palms and he took a firm grip of reality. Even though he had wished to extend his hand and merge it with her coco-buttered fingers, he knew this wasn’t the moment. He walked with a feeling that had no definition. A feeling that made no sense but had the sensible reasoning to let things be. Like the tree, maybe the season for those words to escape hasn’t arrived. Maybe this was the season to see whether in bear nakedness of self, can he truly survive until life clothes him in his true and full glory. Or like the tree back home, this was the rebirth of something once forgotten. That rushing it only result in instant death in the winter. He looked at her once more and watched her speak about matters that mattered to her. Her buoyancy and light radiance of femininity illuminating with a special kind of glow. A glow one sees at the break of the morning before the sun emerges from the horizon. The kind of glow one gets when you exit the exam hall knowing you will no longer be returning to it. The kind of glow that emerges after a mother saves her child from falling into the pits of despair.
How the tree with those dead ends was able to bring him closer to her. How that tree communicated a message from the heavens that could never be coded in human language. How that tree created an eternal memory for both them. How the ends of the tree created the one thing that any man ever needs: a moment with a beautiful woman.