Every Olive Tree

Every olive tree prays during the day to Goddess Athena to grow older than the Moon, while at night it dreams of the Sun shining over Her head; every olive tree wherever it stands, except the one whose shade caressed a couple you may know, Anthi and M, who fell in love right there under its branches without even knowing it yet. The olive tree sensed their love and their connection to Goddess Athena and thus stopped praying, since its prayers had been answered; it felt older than the Moon and had seen the Sun shining over her head, although it was Anthi’s head, but it could not see the difference given that her love had clouded the olive tree’s crown, which became a canopy where Anthi and M would find themselves during one of their divinely inspired dreams in Crete.

O Crete, an island with so much history to be counted

on all fingers and toes until all of Greece is accounted.

Every olive tree can be immortal if allowed to pray without interference from humanity. Its fruit is one of the healthiest, an offering to barter for peace between its fruitions. It prays:

Let me be one with Goddess Athena under every Moon,

and dream of Her sunny diadem resting over Her strewn.

Every olive tree smiles on its trunk, showing its cheering wrinkles, especially to the short-sighted Moon. Its green-silvery leaves love to sway, imagining that together they help the Moon with Earth’s ebbs and tides.

All trees are alive and important for Nature’s equilibrium, but it was a known belief among the Ancient Greeks that humanity would end when the last olive tree disappeared from the face of Earth. Every unprocessed olive is a blessing, and every olive tree keeps the planet in sync with the Sun.

Sidney Bechet - Petite Fleur (Little Flower)