The Caged Lonely Tree

It seemed like a round open cage. The cage was made up of the surrounding forest of trees. Each tree was of different hues and varieties. The clouds moved with their slow and usual pace. The center circular area was filled with glowing green grass. The greenish glow being reflected due to the sun’s observing light.

There were some small bushy areas in that circle. They formed a concentric inner circle when looked from above.

At the center of this cage was a single lonely tree. It seemed like it was autumn as the old leaves were scattered around this area. So the light, glowing, green grass around here was covered with equally dark, glowing, green old leaves. This seemed to give a monochromatic greenish view from above.

The big lonely tree which it was hid two cannons of war under its shade. It hid them from the sun’s light and the moving clouds using the fallen leaves as cover. The sun and the clouds only saw the monochromatic view from above.

This was the autumn season. The sun and the clouds were bored with the monochromatic-ness. They were also curious as to what was hidden underneath this lonely tree. They knew that trees were meant for shading and they had seen what other trees hid under them. They saw animals, birds, travelers, and other objects.

Slowly the old leaves of the big lonely tree gave way for new colours for the sun and the clouds to see.

The view was not monochromatic anymore. Now, there were two big cannons. Each cannon had two huge chocolate coloured wheels with light greyish metallic cylinders held by the wheels. The two new colours shone brilliantly with the green monochromatic leaves.

The viewers were amazed by the sight. The big old tree was not lonely after all as it had two bright friendly cannons guarding it.

Now the picture seemed clear. The cage like area was actually the home of this big single tree. It was not its cage but its castle. A cage it was to the others.

© Aditya Subramanian, 2020