Hell wrote:
> Has anyone heard the U2 song One Tree Hill? It was only released as a
> single in NZ, as a tribute to a Kiwi roadie of U2 who died at a young age,
> while still working for them.
isn't it on the album "joshua tree"?? this is probably my favorite U2 song.
>
> Driving home today, and gazing up at the lonely monument, it just felt so
> wrong. Maybe like losing a face from Mt. Rushmore. Or the stones of
> Stonehenge falling over.
just a few months ago, one of my neighbors cut down one of the oaks on
my street (Oakwood). this tree was 350-400 years old, big, beautiful,
the tallest thing on my block. it was encroaching on their house, and
despite all sorts of protest, and the fact that an oak that old grows
*very* slowly, they took it down. when i first moved in, 6 years ago,
one of my neighbors chained herself to the tree when they attempted to
remove it then. at the time, the house belonged to the city, so it
survived the first round. but the woman who lives there has since
bought it at some ridiculously low cost because she works for the city
and figured out how to work the system. so this time, no one could stop
her.
i wept for a couple of days over this. sobbed. my next door neighbor
had what can only be called an episode, screaming and crying all over
the block. for days, i had to pass the carcas of this big beautiful
tree; sliced up pieces of it were strewn in the yard and on the
sidewalk. it was a very complicated event - it brought out the best and
the worst in people (i can't even tell half the story - it would take me
hours).
down the next block are two more big oaks that i think will eventually
fall on their own - they are on a hill and boxed into a yard by a brick
wall and those places will not hold them. i can only take comfort that
there are two other big oaks (about 300 yrs old) on my block, and a big
maple tree in my front yard. i will always miss that big oak in the
yard 4 houses down, and i think the earth misses it, too.
i think we all have monuments and artifacts that we never want to lose...
barbara
np: emmylou harris, red dirt girl
