The Oak
Cupping my hand over my eyes, I peered across the battlefield to the farthest distance at which my eyes would focus; breathing a sigh of relief.
Realizing that I was no longer as prey to some blood-thirsty creature or other, I took a moment to relax; seating myself beneath the nearest shelter- a tree. After catching my breath, I took in my surroundings.
The tree I was seated under, I realized; was indeed a magnificent oak in its time. It had probably peaked during my childhood, and was now retiring into ripe old age. I stroked the coarse bark, feeling in tune with this creature of an ancient race.
I was now of age 27, feeling long past the fruitful days of my youth. I rubbed my hands together, removing my gauntlets and feeling my skin, which had turned much like the dry, cracked leather of the gloves.
Laying my sword in its sheath aside, I stood up; gazing at this spectacle of nature. My eyes followed the trunk up to the highest branch, and I could not help but feel the utmost respect for the tree. I even found myself imagining what its own "childhood" was like.
I saw it as a sappling, new and fresh in the world; though isolated on top of the lonely hill I rested on. Slowly but surely, it had blossomed into the true tree stage; expanding its roots and providing shelter to other creatures over its hilltop domain.
I pondered about how many times I could have played with my friends, practiced my ocarina or stolen a few kisses with a certain young princess; all under this very same tree without even realizing I had even done so. It was like the Grandfather of the forest, as walls are to a house. Essential, yet somewhat unnoticed and silently graceful in its own, tree-like way. It watched as other trees grew from sappling to whithered; and all the relationships intertwined between them.
It watched them shed their leaves and seem as good as dead in the harshness of Winter; but sure enough... every Spring they were thriving and full of life again. This tree was truly in a league all its own.
I sat down again, taking in a deep breath of the fresh, mountainous air; filling my lungs with the forest's perfume. It felt cold and crisp, yet sweet all at once. I sighed, leaning against the rough bark and closing my now drooping eyelids, trying to give myself the rest my brain demanded. "Nature is truly where man feels most at peace with himself," I thought, and drifted off to my dreams of home.
Cupping my hand over my eyes, I peered across the battlefield to the farthest distance at which my eyes would focus; breathing a sigh of relief.
Realizing that I was no longer as prey to some blood-thirsty creature or other, I took a moment to relax; seating myself beneath the nearest shelter- a tree. After catching my breath, I took in my surroundings.
The tree I was seated under, I realized; was indeed a magnificent oak in its time. It had probably peaked during my childhood, and was now retiring into ripe old age. I stroked the coarse bark, feeling in tune with this creature of an ancient race.
I was now of age 27, feeling long past the fruitful days of my youth. I rubbed my hands together, removing my gauntlets and feeling my skin, which had turned much like the dry, cracked leather of the gloves.
Laying my sword in its sheath aside, I stood up; gazing at this spectacle of nature. My eyes followed the trunk up to the highest branch, and I could not help but feel the utmost respect for the tree. I even found myself imagining what its own "childhood" was like.
I saw it as a sappling, new and fresh in the world; though isolated on top of the lonely hill I rested on. Slowly but surely, it had blossomed into the true tree stage; expanding its roots and providing shelter to other creatures over its hilltop domain.
I pondered about how many times I could have played with my friends, practiced my ocarina or stolen a few kisses with a certain young princess; all under this very same tree without even realizing I had even done so. It was like the Grandfather of the forest, as walls are to a house. Essential, yet somewhat unnoticed and silently graceful in its own, tree-like way. It watched as other trees grew from sappling to whithered; and all the relationships intertwined between them.
It watched them shed their leaves and seem as good as dead in the harshness of Winter; but sure enough... every Spring they were thriving and full of life again. This tree was truly in a league all its own.
I sat down again, taking in a deep breath of the fresh, mountainous air; filling my lungs with the forest's perfume. It felt cold and crisp, yet sweet all at once. I sighed, leaning against the rough bark and closing my now drooping eyelids, trying to give myself the rest my brain demanded. "Nature is truly where man feels most at peace with himself," I thought, and drifted off to my dreams of home.