In this dialogue a spiritual man has come to sit with a redwood tree he has spent time with over many years.
“Hello, old friend.”Hi Paul. It's good to see you again.“It might be the last time old friend. It's been so hot for so long. Water's drying up. There's fire all around the world.”I know. We know. I don't think I'll be alive to greet you in a few months.“I've come to sing praise for you, old friend. I have treasured all the times we have sat together in prayer. I remember the first time. I was a lot younger then and not as aware as I have become. I was just tromping by and I got this thought. You wanted to speak to me.”I know that well. I send a message to everyone who walks by. Very few are open enough, aware enough to receive it. I'm glad you did.“It was the beginning of a major transformation for me. People used to talk about tree huggers. I thought if anyone saw me I'd feel embarrassed. But I came over and just listened.”You did. You felt into me. You connected with my story. I've been here on this spot for fifteen hundred years or so. You felt my roots. My heartwood. My branches way up there. You cared.“I did. I gave you a name. It's what I think of when I think of coming to sit with you. Want to hear it.”Sure.“Roh-pahn-oh. The soft a in the center feels like your great, soft heart. I know you are a softy. You love very deeply.”Redwoods don't cry, but I believe you know I am tearing up because you are seeing me.“I've come to say good-bye, Roh-pahn-oh. I've come to celebrate your millennium and a half here on this hillside. Bless your strength Roh. Bless your perseverance. You made it. That fire that swept through here five hundred years ago. You survived. You gave those bears something to scratch their backs against. You oversaw clouds, rain, winds. You blessed your children that grew up from seeds you sent out. You held birds and squirrels. You worshipped sunrises and full moons. You marked the passage of time. Roh, you embodied majesty. All that is coming to an end.”Thank you, Paul. Put your hand on my flank and let me sing to you.
Paul sits with his hand on the enormous redwood's rough-barked trunk. He feels a rumbling image of massiveness. Time swirls. He feels the redwood's witness to the beauty of the forest. Images of birds, beetles, bees swirl by. He knows in his heart the death song of his friend Roh the redwood; feels it pulsing through his body. A great being is preparing to die. Honoring with his death song all the life that has moved through his woods. A soughing as of a thousand years of wind passing through Roh's branches rises and falls, rises and falls, then becomes silent.
“Here is my song for you, Roh, my dear old friend. This is the song we sing in my spiritual practice to invoke Eagle who will carry a soul up into Mystery. And Paul sang clear and strong: Toh sho koh nay. Toh-oh sho koh nay. Toh sho koh nay-ay ah. Yah hey yah hey-eh yah hey.”
And the song lifted up. The melody wreathed around Roh's massive trunk and up into the branches high above. Birds chattered and fell silent. Moss and trilliums turned their attention to the song. A great stillness fell upon the hillside. A deer raised its head. A bear paused. All the world wide the vast community of beings joined in the requiem for one of their great leaders. All knew that with redwood going they would follow soon. All sang: Toh sho koh nay. Toh-oh sho koh nay. Toh sho koh nay-ay ah. Yah hey yah hey-eh yah hey.
