BY LESLIE REGO
The British poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) wrote one of the most famous sonnets in the English language. I am reminded of this poem every time I see the intertwining trunks of aspen trees:
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach…”
Aspens give us joy year-round. In the winter, the light-grey trunks become an integral element of the snowy landscape. In spring, the catkins quiver in the soft breeze and glimmer in the light. Summertime brings the continual whispering of the aspen leaves as they rub against one another. And autumn is not replete without the golden glow of the trees’ foliage lighting up our hillsides.
The trunk of the aspen is a textural delight. Many “eyes” formed from broken branches peer out along the length of the tree. Most even sport shaggy eyebrows. Bear scratches and rubbings from antlers add depth and character to the trunk.
I love all of these aspects of the aspen tree, but when I am hiking, one of my most beloved sights is when I come upon two aspen trunks wrapped around each other. The embrace of one trunk upon the other immediately brings to mind Browning’s sonnet, or perhaps the lines written by Pablo Neruda (1904-1973), a Chilean poet:
“Don’t leave me for a second, my dearest, because in that moment you’ll have gone so far
I’ll wander mazily over all the earth, asking,
Will you come back? Will you leave me here, dying?”
The trunks are interlaced so closely together that not even air can pass easily between the two. They are rooted in place. One will not be leaving the other to wander “mazily” over the earth.
The British poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) wrote,
“Nothing in the world is single,
All things by a law divine,
In one spirit meet and mingle—
Why not I with thine?”
The intertwined aspen trunks are one spirit meeting and mingling with another. They clutch one another, as Shelley goes on to say, like the sunlight clasping the earth. It brings me joy to see Nature embrace itself as fully as the aspen trunks grasp one another.
Leslie Rego is an Idaho Press Club award-winning columnist, artist and Blaine County resident. To view more of Rego’s art, visit www.leslierego.com.
