I held a sheet of paper today.
thin, pale, soft at the edges – absentmindedly.
And thought of the tree it once was, standing in a green hush,
the wind combing its branches – like a patient mother.
How astonishing, that something which once held birds,
Now holds my thoughts, Just as gently..
My questions, my small attempts at understanding.
A tree becomes a page, and a page becomes a teacher.
As a child
I folded paper into planes that lifted toward the ceiling,
Toward possibilities.
And boats that braved rainwater rivers
As though… courage had no limits.
and imagination..no boundaries.
I did not know then.. that I was learning…
craft, geometry, imagination,
and…the wild grammar of hope.
Later,
Artists showed me what paper could hold:
water oil..and myriad visions…a shelter for spilled colours,
A quiet witness to hands that trembled
once …and steadied -again.
Oh and those engineers, those quiet nerds of wonder
showed us how paper could be measured,
folded with precision, turned into models
That taught bridges, how to stand and witness,
and wings how to lift and carry.
Paper became a laboratory for curious hands:
a place where ideas learned
to dare to behave like structures.memories
Teachers spread out notebooks like open fields and said,
“Try.”
And so I did—
writing, sketching, searching,saving
for the shape of my own mind.
Now, older, I touch paper
and feel the Earth again—
its steady pulse..
Its ancient kindness.
This bridge between my hands
and the forest..
If I so much as close my eves..and smell the book..
Between my hurried mind and the patient forest
it reminds me to slow down,
to breathe,
to become.
To just…Be
Perhaps this is all life asks..
to remember the tree,
to honour the boat,
to release the plane,
To thank the teachers and artists
who showed us how to turn emptiness – into meaning,
And to write— simply, honestly.
what the heart has been trying
for so long
to say.
It has been anything..but Blank.
~Rhea
(P.S. Having just completed a piece of work for a Paper making company (Sylvamo)..I am touched that there are these places that hold hope for the future of humanity in a world that is fast going digital.)