Storms, lightning, drought and the chain saw.
Stoic and wide-girthed, it notched off the years, adding a ring for every winter. Providing shelter for owlets and a nibble for enterprising roe deer. Home and hearth.
A rope swings idly, last summer’s kids too grown-up for such distractions now. But from its sturdy branch, you could fly high and glimpse an arboreal world, enclosed and wrapped in its wooden heart.