“ If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees. ”
Here and there one sees the blush of wild rose haws or the warmth of orange fruit on the bittersweet, and back in the woods is the occasional twinkle of partridgeberries. But they are the gem stones, the rare decorations which make the grays, the browns and the greens seem even more quiet, more completely at rest.
~ Hal Borland
Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.
In a painful time of my life I went often to a wooded hillside where May apples grew by the hundreds, and I thought the sourness of their fruit had a symbolism for me. Instead, I was to find both love and happiness soon thereafter. So to me [the May apple] is the mandrake, the love symbol, of the old dealers in plant restoratives.
Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night.
