The girl who sang to the trees

The girl who sang to the trees... 1

I heard this story one day while I was walking in the forest just beyond my own back door. It was a lovely day filled with all the sights and smells and sounds that lovely days are filled with. 2

The morning sky was bluer than I had ever seen it with white puffy clouds, whiter than ever had been. On the gentle wind, were elegant fragrances of pine and earth and sweet smelling flowers. Oh and the sounds; the sounds of my feet crunching out as I walked upon the gravel path, “scrunchy-crunch” under the soles of my shoes, the sounds of birds calling out to one another in bright happy whistles and chirping aloud. There were noises of squirrels all chattering and chortling as they gathered up nuts, the patter of rabbits that scurried along and the sound of wind playing with leaves in the trees. 3

As I listened and heard the wind playing a soft gentle tune, the rustle and flutter mixed with the sound as if water was rushing, brushing the tree tops making what sounded like a song. 4

“A song?” I thought, “Out here in the wood?”5

This was a strange occurrence, out in the forest, to hear a song in the trees. Stranger still, the harder I tried to listen to the song, the fainter it became, almost unheard. It was not your usual song; like the ones you hear with your ears. This song was heard way down deep inside. It was a song to be felt inside of the body, not heard at all with the ears. So I became as quiet as a rock and as still as a moonbeam in order to feel this song that was singing out in the wood.6

Then the images came, flooding my mind, the song came in pictures that gently touched the edge of my thoughts like a mother’s hand on the cheek of her child. I began to understand what the song was singing and listened with all of my being. 7

The song said that a long time ago when the trees were first born, there was silence inside of the heart of the forest, when they were all very alone. There were no noises at all, it’s hard to imagine; it was just as quiet as when it snows at midnight or when fog covers a field like a blanket. The trees did not know about songs, or wind, or squirrels, or rabbits that pattered. That is, not until a little girl came along. 8

She was lost and alone out there in the forest. But she was not frightened, no, not in the least. She was special and had no fear in her at all. So when she found herself in the midst of the trees, she imagined them all as tall leafy friends and began to talk with them and expected them to answer. 9

But they remained silent and stood very still. She talked to the Oak, the Maple and the Elm, spoke to the Willow standing alone. Chatted with the Pines and even the Poplars but they all stayed very quiet. The trees had never heard a child speaking. They really had no way of hearing the words she was saying, because to them, it was a language that was completely unknown. Yet, the little girl went on just the same, talking to them all as if they all understood.10

But they didn’t, no, not in the least and were not moved at all. At least not until she started her singing. 11

They heard the sound she was making and they listened. They listened with all of their might. They were not listening like you or I do, they had no ears like we have to hear. They were listening way down deep, inside, where the roots draw up life from deep down in the earth. They heard with their bark and leaves and their branches, the little girl’s song as she began her singing.12

First she sang up into the sky. A sky that was bluer than the deepest of oceans. Then to the white puffy clouds that floated, high, so high, way up above. Then she sang the song to the wind and asked it to come play in the tree tops. And then she began to sing to the trees. 13

“Reach high, so high, way up into the sky, let the wind dance and swirl in your branches, feel the life flowing from the roots you put down and listen to me as I sing you this song.” 14

She danced as if waltzing with angels and her melody brought all the animals close by. The birds came and sang along with her, the squirrels chortled and chattered along too. The rabbits hopped in on cue, keeping perfect time as the wind kept on playing with the leaves in the trees. Then a most amazing thing happened, the trees began to join in the song. 15

They moved their limbs and leaves and with the gentle wind swaying this way and that way. Then let the squirrels play in their branches, and smiled broad tree smiles while the rabbits pattered and hopped down below. And they sang. Their song was a deep soft whispery song, alive with green leafy breaths and soft pine smells. It was a complete song that, as they sang it, it made the little girl’s heart full and satisfied and very happy.16

The little girl was so content that she went to sleep right there at the foot of the trees. She slept on and on. She slept so soundly and so deeply that she never woke up but went right down into the brown earth and became part of the trees, part of the forest. And the trees were so happy that they no longer were alone and so they let the little girl into their hearts. As they did, her song became their song from that time on until now and forever. 17

Well, that’s the story, at least that’s how I remember it, when the trees told me about a little girl who sang them a song so very long ago. So when you go out into in the forest, remember to stop and be very still; as quiet as a rock or as still as a moonbeam and you just may hear the singing of a song in the tops of the trees; a little girl’s song singing to you. 18

~r. 19

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© May, 2005 R.Braley21

(astralshepherd)