I Need Little From You
but To Be Left Alone
As I have shaded you, I will do the same for your grandchild. I will be a home for a myriad of living things. Birds with beautiful songs, animals of many colors, insects to fascinate the young eyes - I will house and feed them. I need my community to unify into a grove, a copse, or a forest; I cannot stand-alone for long. Given our diversity, we flourish and provide a haven for all life. We nourish and entertain all young beings. We are shelter for our own kind and yours. We present an ever-changing landscape a habitat for all things. I can give many things, but I cannot move. If I am to live I must ask you to adjust for me. Prune me, trim me, but let me live. I will be a lasting gift for your grandchildren and for theirs. God who created all things will number our days and judge when our time has ended. I ask you, who are hastier than my kind, put your faith in the Lord, and let us live together.
Treebeard’s Prophecy
I have lived long among the trees, and know their ways. I resemble a tree - thick, strong, steadfast, adorned with straggly branches. I have listened to the trees. I have learned perseverance, tolerance, aspiration, unity, and beauty from their teaching. If you tear down what is good, steal what is lasting, burn what gives life; your land will be barren, your ground will be infested with thorns and stinging things, having cursed the land you will inherit bitter fruit.
A character created by JRR Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings