Freak of Nature

While geocaching , I was led to this tree which had been referred to as a 'freak of nature'. I shall attempt to describe my experience. By the owner of the hidden cache, I was guided off a rural East Texas road down under a bridge and then led to this tree, which was to be a marker for further instructions to the cache. However, upon reaching the tree, I was so awestruck that I forgot about the cache.

It was a very old oak growing on a high point within a creek bed that was subject to rapid changes in water levels. Time, flooding, and other forces of nature of which I can only imagine, had carved and hollowed out the trunk of this huge and tall oak. I came upon on it from the 'back'; i.e. it's healthy side. I was astounded by the size of its trunk. Usually a tree has a point at which the trunk disappears into the ground. However, this is not the usual tree. After making my way across some of its protruding roots whose size would make a large tree trunk themselves, I rounded the tree and was simply and literally stopped in my tracks by what I saw. The tree was hollow. Yet it was alive. I walked inside the tree marveling at its interior. Its walls were beautifully decorated with a pattern that only Mother Nature could design. The whorls and striations formed a work of art. However, its artist had added something else one does not normally see in interior design. A fragrance so fresh and earthy that I found it hard to remember the smell of pollution.

After my initial reactions, I touched her walls; I looked up into her inner being; I saw her live branches extending from her main body which looked much like the strands of hair of Medusa; snakelike meanderings up into the sky which I could see through her uppermost head of her trunk. I was shaken with awe. I turned round and round within her to view her from as many angles as possible from within.

It then occurred to me to simply sit within her. I sat yoga style inside this quiet, fragrant, earthy creature, who gave me respite from the noise of traffic not far in the distance. I was transformed by her into a state of such tranquility as she wrapped her folds of alive treeness around me.

She had two windows at ground level: one large window through which I could have crawled I think, though I did not try, and a much smaller one that lying upon my belly still within the tree, I could see the root system of another much smaller neighbor to her and the way the water had removed dirt from its roots as well.

There were many nooks and crannies at ground level that I felt harbored and was home to many creatures during cold, damp evenings. She, I felt, was hostess to all manner of species; I being only one of many. I sat, leaning against her backbone, careful not to carve away any more of her marrow. Though strong and stately, her insides were fragile and sensitive to the touch.

As I sat there, peaceful yet thoughtful, I felt a kinship with her. I tried to imagine her life, what it had been and would be like. The hardships she suffered were obvious from her scars. How old was she, I asked myself? How much longer can she live like this? Have I not asked myself similar questions? Yet, sitting there inside her, I felt she got her strength from not opposing those forces of nature that tried to shape her. On the contrary, by surrendering herself to them, she flourished. A freak of nature? No, an example of the power and a testament to the mystery of Mother Nature. Much like myself, she is doing her best to continue her art of living.