Two Trees

This is a beautiful picture of union and individuation in a mature and seasoned marriage that I read in Plain Living: A Quaker Path to Simplicity by Catherine Whitmire. Beth and I can so relate to this at so many levels.

Two young trees are planted close together
In common soil at marriage.
They send down roots together,
And feed on many of these same nutrients.

But as they grow taller and older
Some of the roots shoot out in different directions,
Away from each other, seeking mutually alien soil.
Nevertheless, the older original roots stay intertwined.

The trees also grow above ground.
Many of their branches intertwine and
Shape each other in the happy embrace of shared space…

But these trees are not only growing toward each other;
They are growing in all directions.
Like the roots, some of the branches
Stretch far away from the common center,
And breathe a mutually alien air.

Each tree is in itself whole and individual
And growing according to its inner design,
Yet shaped on the one side by its partner,
And on the other by the outside world.

Elise Boulding