Can You Feel The Rhythm Of This Heartbeat?

Branching veins of life. Japanese maple, Norfolk Botanical Gardens
(Click picture to enlarge)

"And see the peaceful trees extend
their myriad leaves in leisured dance-
they bear the weight of sky and cloud
upon the fountain of their veins."
~ Kathleen Raine, Envoi

My brother has fallen in love with the Japanese Maple tree. Never mind that there are hundreds of different varieties with vast differences in shapes, sizes, growth rates, leaf configurations and colors... he loves them all. We have a large variety "Fireglow" that he just put in the yard this summer and a smaller weeping maple with thin intricate branching leaves that is growing in a huge container on the patio. There were at least two others that he "almost" got while he was here in July and August.

This specimen is my personal favorite and is in the Japanese Garden at our local botanical garden. It is large and old and forms a huge canopy that one can sit under. Its branches are gnarled and wandering, the leaves deeply and delicately branched and it retains a stunning deep red and orange color throughout the spring, summer and fall. The sun glows through the leafy layers, enhancing the dark trunks until they almost throb with the flowing water and life giving minerals. Sometimes it seems as if I could reach out and actually feel the pulsing of the branches, grasping them as I would a wrist and marking out the rhythm of a heartbeat. I never tire of viewing these trees from this perspective.

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Carmi's Theme ~ "Branched"
Ruby Tuesday