Just as the new decade starts we sat with our ambassador Beatriz War to chat about trees.

Beatriz is a legal adviser, and a poet. We started with her sharing a poem she wrote for the trees.

 

UNDYING FOREST by BEATRIZ WAR

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As the tree in the woodland awaits the wind with open arms
by the tides that rock and feed its roots,
you sew my mind with the image of uncontrollable love
vibrating submissively
exposed
awaiting a merge I may never see,
the invisible line that unites divine and dust
 
But I am the sky, the pines and the ficus
that cover your roof under a same membrane
beating restless among green witches
besides the transparent lilacs of fairy tales
 
So I climb, as the leaves cling to your body
I dive, beyond the cursed sweetness of our destiny
I rise, through the whips of fury of our bonded hearts
Embracing the gentle breeze
the weeping storms and the unexpected light of the morning after
surrendering to the life that I choose to live
 
Let me cover your gaps
be the needles that dress your trunk
the last sigh you exhale when you free your wounds
the music you dance when the northern lights visit us,
your shelter in the nights of sun,
the spouse of your solitude
 
Let me be the fingers you move
when the wolves are howling,
wildly,
chained to you,
in the undying forest that we inhabit

 

 

I don’t know about you, but I had to pause, take in what she just read. Beatriz has had deep bonds with trees and forests since she was a child, “warm and loving memories with my parents and sister in Madrid’s mountains every weekend and holidays in the woodlands of northern Spain where my family comes from.“

 

It is not often that we can get the author’s perspective on their creation. Here we could. “When I project myself walking in a woodland or as a flying bird over the crown of a forest, I become a fool and a wild hearted child. I close my eyes and revive fairy-tales and feel the  daydreaming emotion of being in love, surrendering to the vulnerability of exposure to love, that wonderful feeling of peace and excitement, freedom and inspiration. When I write I choose to be where I do not think to think.”

“Forests have always felt to me like the right place for love.” She adds. As Joyce Kilmer wrote, “I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree”.”

 

Beatriz believes that we need to look at our involvement as an opportunity, a window to the future, our footprint in the planet where our children will grow and the sensitivity, respect and commitment to nature we want to imprint in future generations. I hope you were able to get that from her words.

 

She is committed to educate her children and encourage her environment, peers, friends and family to become active on this cause through everyday actions, using social media to raise awareness, deepening communications, sharing knowledge, and committing to initiatives like this one to contribute towards mass chain reactions to initiate a drastic change in society and lead the fight against climate change. “It is our Mother Earth and we need to look deeply to see that we ARE the Earth. From this insight, love is always born.”

 

“I think that we all can take individual, local and collective actions. I am optimistic that most of us are aware that climate change is difficult to contain and the situation will get worse if we do not act on it now. It is our everyday responsibility.

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Read your children The Giving Tree, show them respect for nature and to treat all creatures around us with care, teach them why recycling is important, why we need to save water, paper and buy less clothes, illustrate our impact on earth if we do not take action. We, as adults, should also start today: recycle, avoid plastics, cancel all paper bank statements, reduce meat intake, paper use, electricity and water consumption - lets all share more showers! - drop consumerism and buy more second hand, donate your clothes, launder sensibly, buy local produce where possible and plant a tree in your garden.

 

I think it would be great if we all could free a few minutes a day of “tree time” to touch and connect with trees! It would make us aware that we are all the earth while feeling better in body, mind and spirit... I love the idea of a movement of tree huggers.“

 

I had to ask, What kind of tree is your favorite to hug?

 

I adore hugging weeping willows, they feel human to me, a friend, a tears’ and laughs’ companion, sometimes even a near best dancing partner. Since my childhood, I have spent vacation periods year after year at my mum’s village in northern Spain, where we have a massive weeping willow. The tree was to me - and still is - truly magical. It swiftly became my favorite spot for playing, dancing, climbing and hiding away among its languid branches.

 

I also love smelling the minty, pine scent of eucalyptus and hugging them to keep cool like koalas do, eucalyptus have always been charming hosts in my walks through seaside woodlands.

 

Leaving you with the Weeping Willow vision and the eucalyptus smell to reflect on. I know I will. Thanks Beatriz for that gift. Time to go hug a tree.