trees as company

yesterday, while flickering through another long alley of thick trunked plane trees on the way from one village to lunch, i was reminded of a thought i often have in the presence of certain trees. they comfort me. not just because they’re beautiful and not because they are constantly inhaling our combusted carbon, but because some of them are presences as welcoming as a light in a window and smoke rising from the chimney. in this part of the world, a row of plane trees says, first of all, “welcome to the south, here’s some shade.” but it also means that people took the time to plant very inconvenient and long-lived trees right beside the road in part because in 50 years they would be beautiful. in their presence i always feel calm and somehow cared for. plane trees are good company.

plane tree bark