Trees have played and still a crucial part in our lives. I still remember how often I was asked to write essays about tress when I was at school, probably up to the tenth grade. Luckily enough, I managed to find the English version of a poem that I used in one of the essays that I had read in an Arabic Magazine;
Prayer of the Woods
I am the heat of your hearth on the cold winter nights, the friendly shade screening you from the summer sun, and my fruits are refreshing draughts quenching your thirst as you journey on.I am the beam that holds your house, the board of your table, the bed on which you lie, and the timber that builds your boat.
I am the handle of your hoe, the door of your homestead, the wood of your cradle, and the shell of your coffin.I am the bread of kindness and the flower of beauty.
‘Ye who pass by, listen to my prayer: Harm me not.’
This prayer has been used in the Portuguese forest preservations for more than 1,000 years
Below are some photos of trees that I took over the last two years. I hope they can express, at least symbolically, what the lines above say, and that they show the grandeur I have always felt trees have.