Kay Wade
Stumps
Sixty years have gone by since these trees were laid down by the sawyer’s chain. The stumps remain. Six decades, hiding just under the surface of Lake Jocassee, marking the past life of living, breathing beings who once sent young root tips poking through shallow, fragile soil into bedrock fractured millions of years before. A life, constantly searching for what moisture this rock could give, holding on for dear life on the slope of this steep ravine. Occasionally Lake Jocassee recedes enough for these stumps to perch high and dry on the banks, and with their graceful, sprawling roots, they remind us of dancers. ~K