Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
158
Adventures in Contentment
·
David Grayson
37
A
perfect
tree!
So
I
came
up
again
with
my
short
axe
and
after
clearing
away
the
grass
and
leaves
with
which
the
wind
had
mulched
it,
I
cut
into
the
clean
white
roots.
I
had
no
twinge
of
compunction,
for
was
this
not
fulfillment?
Nothing
comes
of
sorrow
for
worthy
sacrifice.
When
I
had
laid
the
tree
low,
I
clipped
off
the
lower
branches,
snapped
off
the
top
with
a
single
clean
stroke
of
the
axe,
and
shouldered
as
pretty
a
second-growth
sapling
stick
as
anyone
ever
laid
his
eyes
upon.
I
carried
it
down
to
my
barn
and
put
it
on
the
open
rafters
over
the
cow
stalls.
A
cow
stable
is
warm
and
not
too
dry,
so
that
a
hickory
log
cures
slowly
without
cracking
or
checking.
There
it
lay
for
many
weeks.
Often
I
cast
my
eyes
up
at
it
with
satisfaction,
watching
the
bark
shrink
and
slightly
deepen
in
colour,
and
once
I
climbed
up
where
I
could
see
the
minute
seams
making
way
in
the
end
of
the
stick.
In
the
summer
I
brought
the
stick
into
the
house,
and
put
it
in
the
dry,
warm
storeroom
over
the
kitchen
where
I
keep
my
seed
corn.
I
do
not
suppose
it
really
needed
further
attention,
but
sometimes
when
I
chanced
to
go
into
the
storeroom,
I
turned
it
over
with
my
foot.
I
felt
a
sort
of
satisfaction
in
knowing
that
it
was
in
preparation
for
service:
good
material
for
useful
work.
So
it
lay
during
the
autumn
and
far
into
the
winter.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
