Because they are primeval, because they outlive us, because they are fixed, trees seem to
emanate a sense of permanence. And though rooted in earth, they seem to touch the sky.
For these reasons it is natural to feel we might learn wisdom from them, to haunt about
them with the idea that if we could only read their silent riddle rightly we should learn
some secret vital to our own lives; or even, more specifically, some secret vital to
our real, our lasting and spiritual existence.

Kim Taplin, Tongues in Trees, 1989,



Trees by Oscar Rasbach, performed by Julian Lloyd Webber