What is a tree?

So the other day 'Spiral girl' asked me what a tree was. I smiled and said I didn't understand the question. She said the word 'tree' was a label but gave no information and she wanted to know what a tree was.

That night I was looking at the bathroom sink after washing my face and I thought how beautiful all these glistening little clusters were all around the sink... I failed to see just water around the bench as my education would have me believe and I started to consider, what is a tree.

Thick, hard, ugly brown casing. This is surely to protect something very, very valuable, something inside that is soft and vulnerable. So what is this protective outer shell sheltering?

Life?

Hmm... If it is protecting life, who's life is it protecting?

What is this stuff at the top? These soft, thin, green, dancing fans... These are happy workers, engaged in a flirtacious love affair with the sun, embroiled in a disguise that conceals their job of converting carbon diaoxide to oxygen and thus giving me air to breathe....

And what is below? Long, deep, fingers that search and source a more grounded connection, provide a home for hidden critters and a stability for the revealed marvel above.

Wow. What wonderful discoveries... learning to forget what I know and making my own solutions...

k
p.s. No, no drugs at all. Ever.