I AM THE SUMMER OAK
I am life. I rise from the moist, sandy soil my ancestors have prepared for me. Millennia rest in the layers beneath my feet. Countless beings have lived and worked here – their existence left behind sediments: a rich source of nourishment and experience. One day I too shall fall. My body will then become soil for new growth – a place for playful roaming and daring experiments. If one were to speed up time and watch events unfold from afar, this coming and going would appear as a great, colorful carousel – a great machine orbiting around itself transforming earth, light, and time into fresh, vibrant life. Ever faster, ever more diverse. No end in sight – or is there?
When I think of my lovely seeds, my acorns…
When I look at them, with their smooth, rounded forms and their little caps on top, I see many small, ripened heads longing for their full bodies.
And I wonder: How does the Great find its way into the Small? What power transforms my acorns into a new queen or king of the forest? Is it the whisper of the stars? Has each star chosen its own acorn to breathe life into?
I share much with human beings, they too embody a mystery. Many small galaxies circle around one another, forming a far greater universe. Remove one piece, and the whole keeps turning – though differently. With some humans, I am not so sure … They wish to upend the forces of the heavens. They see themselves as the great, the inner, the center, around which all that is smaller must revolve.
But life does not emerge in isolation. It is the interplay of circles - all equal, all unstoppable - that gives life its shape. And in the end, we all find our place, our own moment within the everlasting flow.
Home:
Zuid-Kennemerland National Park, North Holland, Netherlands
Tree species:
Quercus robur
Tree family:
Fagaceae (beech family)
Common Names:
English oak, pedunculate oak, summer oak, common oak
Motivation:
A borrowed bicycle. A path leading toward the Dutch coast through a vast and deep forest landscape. Sunlight and the urge to explore guided me to this tree in Zuid-Kennemerland National Park. Its majesty and the sense of witnessing pure vital force inspired me to create this tree portrait.