Limb

I’ve often wondered about tree limbs - how and why they grow as they do. In this particular dwarf yew tree, they appear to these human eyes as without pattern or purpose. Of course, human eyes are probably not the best lens with which to explore these amazing entities.

And that’s OK with me. I’m more concerned with the elegance of this tangle of limbs than I am with the science that explains it. (No complaint about science, it’s just not how my mind works.)

Yet I do see parallels in the meandering of my life over decades, to the push and pull of various forces that made certain decisions move me in unexpected, random, and perhaps contradictory directions.

So I look at these limbs with a sense of familiarity, of comfort with what can appear to be haphazard growth. There’s no sense I need to make here. And that allows me to simple enjoy the form.