Timber!

There is something about these trees, which have fallen, but are still held aloft, that catches my attention. There is danger there, definitely. By noon today the wind was a wild thing whipping through the forest, and branches thrashed above my head while trunks screeched as they scraped against each other. The sounds this produces are eerily like ghost voices or birds of prey. I stop and watch and try to find the place the noise is coming from.

I look at these leaning trees and imagine them crashing down the rest of the way into my path or onto my head. Someday they will fall; I have come across newly toppled trunks blocking a path that had been clear the week before. But imagine being there as it falls.

For now, though, these trees are still leaning, holding onto their potential final "Timber!"