The Giving Tree

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I ran to the tree and scrambled up it even though I was in a skirt.

"What are you doing?" You asked.

I'm chasing the sky, I thought.

But smiling I simply replied, "I'm climbing"

You climbed into the tree as well and nudged me with a knowing smile, "climb higher."

I laughed and admitted that I couldn't. Oh but I wanted to. I wanted to climb higher and higher until the ground disappeared. I wanted to chase the sky and wear the stars. I wanted to vanish and become a constellation, but your smile brought me back to the tree. You jumped and I stayed.

It was only three feet but it felt like the world that separated us.

"Jump, I'll catch you."
"You'll drop me."
"Never."

I traced the bark of the tree softly and thought of my favorite bedtime story.

"There once was a tree, and she loved a little boy very, very much -even more than she loved herself."

I wonder now like I wondered then if I was the tree or the little boy. Which are you?

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