Decline

A walker through the woods, even the urban woods, will encounter trees in various stages of growth or decline. This is part of the natural order. Sometimes the decline is somewhat less natural, due to one form or another of human intervention. And sometimes it’s simply part of an arboreal cycle, dictated by the natural world, one that includes damage, destruction, death. 

I’ve no idea what caused the damage to this tree. But what strikes me here is that while there is decline and decay here, there is also growth. It doesn’t seem to need to be all one or the other, which is how I usually categorize things. 

Life, among trees and likely among people as well, is more complicated than duality allows for. So while this tree has suffered a potentially fatal injury, there is so much beauty here, as much to celebrate as to mourn.