A Tree, Nine Quotes and Nonsense

Rov was at home and felt like writing a great deal but he had nothing to write about and sitting in the verandah of his house he was looking at a tree for a long time. The stout trunk reminded him of G.K. Chesterton’s “The Advantages of Having One Leg” that he read in high school.

He came back to his laptop and typed the keyword “tree” in google search. A few results amused him.

William Blake: A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.

Another search led him into “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”. He read it and instead of ruminating over it, he recollected that the tree he was looking at had lot of bird shit around it! Perhaps it was not the tree that the wise man would see. Thus being self-labelled a fool, he moved on to the next one.

Abraham Lincoln: Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

It was a very hot day. The internet said 39 degrees Celsius. Rov’s tree was a big one and it cast a monstrous shadow. Two pigs were strolling in that shadow.

Saint Basil: A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds.

Rov’s tree was a banyan tree and he saw no fruits. He searched the net and found that the banyan tree does bear fruits but they are very minute and inconspicuous. He attempted to force in a parallel with himself in context and then displeased, swallowed his words.

Joyce Kilner: I think I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree

There is this great banyan tree,

Posing heavyweight smelling of pee!

The same children run around it with glee,

This gutsy presence of worthy pedigree!

James Douglas: I like to think of thoughts as living blossoms borne by the human tree.

Rov’s thoughts were bordering upon insanity. But he continued typing the unintelligible array of words because he thought those were blossoming!

Ronald Reagan: A tree is a tree. How many more do you need to look at?

Rov nodded in agreement as he had been looking at only one tree all along. All these years, his tree had been moving farther and farther away while it kept growing. 

Abraham Lincoln: Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

Rov’s four hours seem like a never ending imposition. It has been close to a decade now.

Sylvester Stallone: If bad decorating was a hanging offence, there would be bodies hanging from every tree.

This one was a tough nut to crack. He was close to the breaking point. Hanging by the tree was the last thing in his mind.

Jim Woodring: A tree is an incomprehensible mystery

That summed it all.