This is a charming piece which, at first, I thought appropriate for a young child. A type of fairy tale if you will. But, as I read on, I changed my mind. It’s all-age appropriate and a lesson for all of us to be more cognizant and appreciative of our surrounds not only of flora and fauna but also, and probably more importantly — folks around us.

The pace and structure of this delightfully fresh metaphor is as close to perfect as I believe possible.

The writing is fluent and readable.

This sentence caused me to pause: The sapling never noticed the shadow of hollowed, reflective look in the eyes of the tree. I know the meaning of those words but the combination in this setting left me wondering.

The narrative voice perfectly captures the two characters. Descriptions effortlessly create a vivid and strong setting.

A little nit picking on my part . . .

Somewhere there are two ?? I'm of the mind that one is sufficent.

One word needs correcting in this paragraph:

In-fact her nights were still dark and petrifying, but she had noticed his dead braches during the days, and knew it was too heavy a price for the tree to pay.

There also is one “ somewhere which seems out of place - should be changed to ‘.

The poetry in writing is the illusion it creates.

The Sampling and the Tree fits perfection with this quote.

Ciao,
JT