The Sycamore Tree

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

Lao Tzu

I feel the warmth of the sun on my arms, penetrating my lightweight jacket. The sky is Technicolor blue and a diversity of birds chatter nonstop. Why are they so animated? Are they tweeting out the news that spring is right around the corner?

After weeks of rain and dreary clouds, sunshine has transformed the wooded path where I walk. Tall Sycamore trees that I never noticed on those colorless days suddenly command my full attention. Their inner bark glows white in the brilliant light of late winter; their bleached branches reach up for the clouds billowing high above the surrounding treetops.

I’ve long been fascinated by the bark of the Sycamore. It sheds its outer layers of gray-brown bark in patches, revealing mottled patterns of cream, beige, and green. It reminds me of army camo.

Completely stripped of their bark, the upper branches look like lovely white skeletons dancing on an endless blue stage.

But as I gaze upward on this cusp-of-spring day, what peaks my curiosity are the hundreds of seed balls dangling from the trees’ uppermost branches. I think Nature may have been a bit overzealous when she ornamented the Sycamore for winter – these golf ball-sized spheres hang extravagantly from twigs more than 50 feet overhead.

I search the ground, hoping to be able to inspect a fallen specimen, but all I see, strewn everywhere, are the hard, spiky balls from the prolific Sweetgum trees. Evidently, the fruits of the Sycamore are holding onto their branches for dear life.

Finally, I find a Sycamore ball. It’s covered with tiny bumps and, unlike the Sweetgum, is slightly soft to the touch.

Later, I’ll research the Sycamore online and learn that these balls are actually compressed milkweed-like seeds, which will be dispersed in the spring. They’ll fall to the ground and open into seed fluff, destined to fly away, propelled by the wind and the wisdom of Nature.

But in this moment, it’s enough for me to squint into the sun and admire the gleaming Sycamores. There they stand … strong and patient and ready. The age-old promise of new life is real.

“Man is wise and constantly in quest of more wisdom; but the ultimate wisdom, which deals with beginnings, remains locked in a seed. There it lies, the simplest fact of the universe and at the same time the one which calls forth faith rather than reason.”

Hal Borland