Chashai

photo by Eldergeek

(Chashai: Douglas-fir tree in the Squamish language)

My clomping human steps
disturb the quiet forest.I halt,
regaled with balsamic air
that brings my body
to full attention.
Moss and lichen give the forest
a softened, verdant face.
The flat needles of the Douglas-fir
silvery streak on the underside,
not at all sharp, teach yielding.

These trees live together
quietly, each for 500-1000 years.
Besides long life in community,
the Pacific Northwest rainfall
gives the Douglas-firs
tremendous height and girth.
On many of these elders
I cannot see their crowns
in the sky at nearly three hundred feet.
And my vision gets stopped
by fallen trunks wider than my height.

I walk along and pick up a cone
to find the identifying papery bracts
sticking out of the scales.
I touch the bark, deeply ridged,
often a whole foot thick,
resisting fires and providing
hiding places for tiny ones.
The Squamish Nation calls the Chashai,
the Fire Tree, because fires pass below
its high high branches.

The fabric of the canopy
ethereally complex;
trees of multiple ages,
abundant downed wood,
decaying snags for animal shelter.
If I could choose a place to die
I would curl up in the understory
here in the dreamy green forest
of Chashai elders. Here
iw where I’d choose to return.

©Susa Silvermarie 2026

with thanks to my friend Cathay for taking me to the trees

image by s-ms_1989