Witness Trees

by Julie Brooks

Trees are the silent sentinels of woods and streams. They stand [as] unspeaking witnesses to sunlit mornings, lashing storms, nocturnal secrets, birth, death and historic occasions of celebration and despair.

~Sandy Corley

The phrase witness tree was coined by public land surveyors in the early 1800s to indicate the demarcation of land boundaries for early European settlers. Before the Anglicization of these great, ancient standing beings, however, witness trees stood as signifiers of grave sites, watering holes, and camping grounds for America's Indigenous peoples, pointing them toward great hunting lands, and bearing markings made to convey messages, warnings, and signposts; they stored and continue to provide vital information about weather patterns and phenological shifts; they watched wars ravage and fires decimate forests; and, they were forced to hold the ropes of both death and play, bodies swinging in both agony and ecstasy. Witness trees, throughout history have served as reference points, resting places, and strong, humble guides, along trails trodden by scouts and seekers, developers, deer, elk, bear, birds and others who have wheeled, waddled, rooted and run, slithered, and soared and swayed and swung.

Reflecting on my role as a forest walking/pedaling guide, I am moved by the witness trees to wonder: What does it mean to intentionally and open-heartedly dwell in, witness and companion my planetary community amidst desire and despair, through sun-filled days and life-threatening storms, and during moments when life is springing forth and dying away? The answer that was revealed on my recent soul walk through the woods of western Michigan is the poem that follows:

With Witness Tree

I will stand like the witness trees, on the threshold between

what is known and unknown, seen and unseen;

what is vigorous and vulnerable, troubling and true;

I will hold what is peaceful, present, and possible to do.

I will grow, and learn, and listen, and sing.

I will stand in Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring.

I will network with others whose tutelage I trust,

I will nourish, and nurture, and harbor the just.

I will stand in the cosmic copse of my kin

focused on love as I breathe deeply in.

And when I breathe out, I will offer my care,

with wafts of benevolence on soft subtle air.

At my core, a heartwood veiled though vital,

I will encourage and embrace what is perplexing and primal.

When the winds whip, threatening disturbance and distress,

I will fortify my sapwood, with flexibility and finesse.

I will stand like the witness trees, humbly holding what nests,

fostering blossoms and blooms, reverently releasing what pests.

In the light and the dark, solid and serene,

I will sway in the sun and bend in the breeze,

I will bow to and bear blizzards,

and liberate leaves,

rooted and reaching,

I will stand with the trees.

Witness Trees is the Soul Walk Project created by Julie Brooks, FTS Certified Forest Therapy Guide, Brandywine 2024 cohort.