Sleeping Trees

Sleeping Trees.

Context: "what have the plants taught you?"

I once asked trees (here in Minnesota) if they feel pain during winter, from the cold.

"We sleep," replied the trees.

When I say "I once asked", I mean it literally ... summer, years ago, while leaning against a tree and wondering how it responded to winter.

So I asked the tree — this one specific tree — if it felt pain.

Commentary

I am a scientist first, but a poet also.

Black Birch: My Life as a North American Sap Tree is a short essay by an anonymous black birch tree.