The Lonely Tree

The savannah lay desolate and bleak as far as the eye could see, but it was starting to evolve. It was like a painter’s blank palette, a blank slate, ready for the artist’s first brush stroke to bring the nothingness to life.

It was so subtle that it was almost indiscernible. Something was happening. The changes were there, you just needed to know where to look and what to look for.

If humans had been in abundance here, they would have panicked, not understanding what was happening, what was changing. But nature always finds a way to calm the undercurrent of change. Change was always scary.

It hadn’t rained in many months. The parched earth cried out for moisture and life in this bleak fruitless wasteland.

Then suddenly, there was something almost imperceptible. It started with a small crack that appeared in the dry, parched earth. Each day, the crack grew a little bit bigger – a little bit wider and a little bit longer.

Then, suddenly, there it was! The tiniest top of a terminal bud showed itself in this inhospitable land. From that tiny crack there was growth. Against all odds, it emerged from the dark, dry hole. The tiny uninvited visitor emerged all alone in contrast to the savannah surrounding it.

“The future tree pushed up from the

Ground as a tiny shoot

It started from nothing – no seed, no sapling –

It just took root.”

The tiny seedling grew out of nothingness. And it continued to grow and grow at an alarming rate. The crown of the tree soon attained great proportions and reached and reached to softly touch the pale blue cloudless sky. Its trunk pushed out branches and boughs and offshoots with abundant leaves and twigs and arms of dense green.

“Standing alone and stark in a savannah

Barren and flat

It grew and grew and grew such that…”

Soon the fully grown tree finally stood alone against the backdrop of the hot, dry savannah. The tree had now made this place its home. The vast wasteland was barren no more. For miles around there was nothing, except this lonely tree, green and full and complete. And what a beautiful tree it was. Its fully formed boughs reached out in all directions creating shade and cool comfort and beckoning any and all who sought the respite it now freely offered.

Now the animals instinctively knew. Especially the females. They could feel it. They could sense it. Something was calling to them, beckoning to them. It was subtle. But it was there. From far away the animals heard, “Come, I will help you.” It was a lilting sound carried on the light breeze that only the animals could hear.

And because the land had become too dry, too inhospitable, the animals became scared and were searching for more from the desolation. Was this the call they had been waiting for?

“Animals came from miles around

Attracted to that sole tree in the ground

Birds and snakes and lion and shrew

Used that tree as their respite and lair, too”

And, yes, the animals were attracted to that solitary tree. They suddenly felt an urge, an unexplained instinct. They were drawn to the call. They heeded its urgent message. They needed to understand its meaning.

So they started on a journey to the tree. At first, there was just one at a time. Then two, then four, now whole groups and packs of animals were drawn into the welcoming folds of the solitary tree.

The lion and the lioness chose to lead the way. They roared their approval and animals from miles around heeded the call. Hordes of every kind of creature big and small started to follow. They weren’t sure where they were going, but they trusted the big cats. They had to. There was a strange change in the air.

They dutifully followed, weary and parched. As they arrived, each eased down in the shade of the outgrowth of the unfurled branches of the life-giving tree. There was room for one and all. The tree made room for each of the animals that answered the call.

“The tree was more than relief from

Heat and strife

It was the source of shade of comfort – of life”

The multitude of animals came and went. After a while, they seemed to be renewed and replenished after visiting this unexplained isolated tree.

Each stayed their designated time and then they moved on. They had to. Changes were coming. They could sense it now. It was their destiny.

Soon, grown animals and their young started to populate this remote desert. The barren savannah was evolving, adapting to its new environment – living, breathing, expanding.

Finally the rains came, drenching and soaking the sterile plateau. The thirsty earth drank in the downpours, converting the dust and dirt to muck and mud.

The change had started. Subtle at first. The landscape became dynamic. The horizon was no longer flat. Off in the distance, you could see shadows and irregular shapes and various forms. There was now movement and people and buildings and shaping and heightening.

“As years and years went by, that solitary

Tree, branches unfurled

Stood strong in contrast to a turbulent world”

Then, just as suddenly as the tree grew from the ground, another object mysteriously appeared without warning, without fanfare, without flourish, without festivity. Out of nowhere it came to rest quietly at the base of the now fully grown knobbed tree trunk.

It was a well-kept Leather Bound Book. There were no marks on it at all. It was pristine. Fresh and new. It belonged here, in this place.

The Book had no beginning, it had no end.

Its pages were blank. The history of the savannah and the tree and the animals and its origins were still to be written in this special Leather Bound Book. The future would see to that. Page after page of life and growth and transformation and evolution would formulate and fill each page in the correct order of its arrival.

Because as civilization is wont to do, it started to encroach on that solitary tree. The transformation had begun.

((I wrote an original poem to include with this week’s submission – LR))

“The future tree pushed up from the ground as a tiny little shoot

It started from nothing – no seed, no sapling – it just took root

“Standing alone and stark in a savannah barren and flat

It grew and grew and grew such that

“Animals came from miles around

Attracted to that sole tree in the ground

“Birds and snakes and lion and shrew

Used that tree as their respite and lair, too

“The tree was more than relief from heat and strife

It was the source of shade of comfort – of life

“As years and years went by, that solitary tree, branches unfurled

Stood strong in contrast to a turbulent world

“And odds

A living example that’s only God’s (handiwork)

Future of the savannah and tree still wait, tasks it will not shirk”