The Bristlecone Pine: Oldest Living Thing on Earth

These elders have beckoned me up to tree line to listen to the stories they tell through their scars and twisted forms.
Just as I investigate into the history of a painting by observing all of the material artifacts presented before me,
so too is there much to be uncovered by observing the physical features of a 4000 year old bristlecone.
From marks on the bark
to evidence of human contact
or lightning

and when we look into its rings
the whole history of mankind is unveiled

the bristlecones open up a world previously unknown to us
their sustainable lives give us hope that
we too can live simply
and endure.

They are our teachers,

And like the Lorax,
I am just here to speak for the trees