Plate G5.no16: Solitary Birch Persists – Kilcreggan Peninsula (Scotland)

Whilst training for trekking*, I passed this tree regularly. Suffice to say, its tortured condition resonated – at the time, my grief was ascendant: I felt alone, utterly abandoned; and I was being battered brutally and constantly by untrammelled conditions against which I had no control, and no defence – and yet, I had to carry on, and continue somehow to live and grow.
If this all sounds a tad melodramatic, it doesn’t alter the fact: that it’s true. Grief, from the loss of one’s child, is appalling. But – though words can be cited, there really are none that can convey that truth. I think this picture does it better, and more so: includes the most elusive quality of grief: that light persists…