Inscribed Tree

 If you happen to be a tree growing along a popular walking path, you cannot escape. There are those who see your smooth bark as a surface for leaving some kind of mark. From the ground all the way to seven and a half feet up, the tree is covered in names, initials, numbers, hearts and even an emoji or two. Does the tree remind you of a person covered in tattoos? Most people choose their tattoos. The tree did not. I think farther back in history, to slaves with scars on their backs, also unable to escape. I placed my hand on the wounded bark, looked up at the golden leaves and tried, for just a minute, to feel the life that is still coursing through the tree.