_{At the heart of the forest stands the grandest Maple tree I’ve ever met.}

_{I address Maple by name:}

_{“At some point, Maple, before we even met some 25 years ago, you lost a huge limb-arm that now sits on the ground, one end piercing the base of your trunk-body as the other rests above the well- traveled trail,  forming a thick bridge that we must all duck beneath.  I look up at where your arm used to be, now self-healed and shaped in a pattern of ‘what was’.  I feel that loss.  The wide elbow of your limb-arm is shiny, as though many creatures’ feet, hands, maybe even wings, have rubbed it like a buddha belly – maybe making a wish as they pass by (as do I). “}

_{“You prompt me to reflect on the terms they/their/them and I realize, with a start, how relevant to all life forms is this societal shift of self- identifing pronouns. They better represent the interlaced reality of wider  Nature.}

Every-thing is more than one-thing – not even a “thing” at all.

_{No-thing lives by self alone.  All that is, is more than a single identity, as are you, Maple teacher:}

_{Moss, leaves, fern, stone,}

_{mycelium, soil, roots, branchings,}

_{robin, mouse, human,}

_communion.

_{Greens (oh, so many greens!).}

_{Wind, loss, healing,}

… sentience unbounded.

_{You are no ‘it’, nor even ‘s/he’ dear one!}

_{Loving all of you is a reciprocal act. ”} 

_{“The doorway to knowing you, Maple, is Reverence. May all of you be well.”}