Haibun: The Love of Trees

Cairngorms National Park

 

forest trail in the glen in Spring with pine and brown heather

 

It is warm in the glen today where firs provide some welcome shade. We get to know them one by one. The mother trees who feed the young, gradually passing on their wisdom. The grandmothers, who still have so much more to give. They nurture the trunks of sons blown over in gales, offering homes to birds and red squirrels.

They welcome us with open arms and make us feel at home here. The loving scent of pine spills easily onto our trail. Even in their next life, the trees will keep on giving.

still breathing
a bridge that carries us
across melting snow

© Xenia Tran

 

black whippet walking across a wooden bridge over the melting snows

 

I am hosting Haibun Monday at dVerse tonight, a virtual pub for poets. The topic is compassion inspired by the writings of Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828). You are invited to compose a haibun that shows or alludes to compassion, without using the actual word. The pub opens at 8pm GMT and I will update the link below once the bar is open.

This is also my 30th and final contribution to Carpe Diem’s Spring Retreat 2018, a retreat where we were invited to share haiku, haibun and tanka about ‘The Light of the World’ every day for thirty days. A very big thank you to all of you who have followed me on this journey across both of my blogs. For a total list of contributions from myself and other poets please click on the link below.

We wish you all a very happy Monday and a wonderful new week!

With love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

 

Carpe Diem Spring Retreat 2018: The Light of the World

Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge: Place in the World

dVerse Poets Haibun Monday: Compassion

dVerse Poets Pub Logo

 

Author: whippetwisdom

The stories, poems and photographs on this blog are the original creative work of Xenia Tran. Inspired by life in the Scottish Highlands and in awe of nature she gives voice to the wisdom of her adopted and fostered whippets.

59 thoughts on “Haibun: The Love of Trees”

  5. Love how you used the trees to describe the dependency we have…. they say that trees can talk with each other through their roots… they just talk very very slowly..

    As Treebeard said to the hasty young hobbits:
    “You must understand, young Hobbit, it takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish. And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say.”

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much for your kind words Bjorn, I love the Treebeard quote! Yes, trees communicate and support each other through their roots and they can communicate through scent too. There is a lovely book by Peter Wohlleben about the life of trees backed up by some interesting research :o)

      Like

      Reply

  11. The compassion of trees! yes, I can see and hear the trees in our garden. I would love to live in or next to a forest, listen to trees all day and witness the mothers and grandmothers passing on their wisdom – maybe learn from them too. I love the photograph of Eivor on the bridge and the haiku that accompanies it. Have a wonderful week, Xenia. And I promise I’ll get around to reading the contributions to the spring retreat. xxx

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  19. Pingback: Place in the World – Street Lights | What's (in) the Picture?

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.