The Ascension Trees
By Contributing Author/Artist Carl Franz
Photograph courtesy of David Brown
A row of trees line the path through the local park.
I walk by them quite often but it wasn't until early December that I noticed the tension.
Curious, I gazed up through the bare abandoned branches.
Summer's shimmering green leaves were long since dried brittle brown and all snatched away.
A thousand works of cloud art drifted unhindered through the twiggy lattice work.  
The passing clouds should have been nothing more than a dream for them. But they were not asleep.
The tree was wide awake. In fact all of the ash trees were.
I sensed disharmony.
Curious I leaned in with my mind.
 
It seemed the world of air and the world of earth were at odds.
The intention of each no longer in agreement.
While the trunk and branches were yearning to reach upwards, the roots were holding fast.
They were actively pulling back down, refusing to release their grip within the earth.
An unprecedented internal tug of war had ensued.

This was at first so very confusing. Trees are after all one being are they not?
Then how could the trunk and the branch be so differently minded to their own roots?
And yet it was so.

The branches were indeed intent on escaping upwards; willing themselves free.
Free? Free from what, their own roots?
Surely this was madness!
 
I focused then on the roots, hoping to find a rational, grounded explanation for what could only be a misunderstanding on my part.
 
The roots had long since grown to meet and then entwined. 
Physically linked together the trees were now one single tree.
 
Why in the world should these wonderful old trees change so in behaviour?
I asked what could possibly cause them to abandon their habitual slow and gentle manner?
The earth helped me as always. 
A quiet shelter away from the lopsided logic of a three dimensional world.
I relaxed in anticipation of the familiar peace.

Then my question was answered.
This was not a struggle of power such as men might undertake. This was no fight of petty ego. The roots were doing only what roots are made to do. They anchor the tree into the earth.
The upper part of the tree, even so was doing what it does. It reaches upwards towards the light.
But now there was a new light. A very powerful new light overriding the old cycle of rest.
This unusual yet natural vibrational force was drawing everything upwards.

The roots were in fact calm. The old familiar knowing calm.
They were only holding back the tree for now.
Holding back, as a bowman holds the tension until it is time for release.
Just for now. Until Ascension.
About the Author:
Author and artist Carl Franz lives in Yorkshire, UK.
He regularly contributes to his local magazine 'Howden Matters' and also features in various websites and magazines.