Dear Joshua--My thoughts on death.

Dear Joshua,

This letter is random, but I love you.

There are no words to describe the pain—pain in our sap, and pain of the broken world. The world has broken, and some have life while others do not. Pain comes as waves in the night. Each wave intensifies pain and reminds us that once there was no pain. We don’t know if we could have helped, and the pain grows worse.

Death is always in the world. It lurks around every corner, but we see it only by looking. It’s always possible to look the other way, to take the easy way out. It’s harder to embrace reality.

We were made to live together, with our shepherds watching over us and our roots wading through the soil. We were made to take life from the ground and breathe it out again, but the world has changed. Now, we cannot find the springs. We cannot move our branches to capture the sunlight, or to give life to another. We are bound to the earth with the curse.

I am sending Ida B. She will give you what I cannot.

Love Always,

Your Friend the Birch Tree