bark

An old saying comes to mind about not being able to see the forest for the trees -- or that could be sub-titled - What are all these trees doing out here in the woods?

When I think about trees, my mind considers the whole of all it's parts. The roots draw moisture and nutrients from the soil. The trunk supports the tree and sends sap up to the branches. The branches spread out and supply the attached leaves with the material that they convert to tree energy in the presence of sunlight.

The leaves also convert carbon dioxide to oxygen so that us humans, grateful or not, would have something to breathe besides nothing. God does all things well.

Much has been written - and even sung - about leaves, some mention has been given to branches and trunk and even a little about roots -- but what about bark? I took it upon myself to write a short piece entitled "Ode to bark". "The dark bark of the tree in the park that the dog bit on a lark was very acidic in nature and bit him back".

Now to my own credit, I must admit that this little group of words flows every bit as good as a well built sewer system. Included within is a bit of the dark side of nature in the malicious dog mischief and the resulting poetic justice of the revenge of the tree. But if the dog got a lawyer, the result could be very draining to the tree -- down to the very last drop of it's sap -- so much for poetic justice.

Another old saying relates that some people's (and dog's) bark can be worse than their bite, but does that apply to trees as well? If a person collided with a tree while running full tilt and looking back, it could be said that the bark WAS the tree's bite, or that a person's bite (dentally speaking) could be altered by the bark. All this to help take a bite out of time.