{listen to the song first, it helps with the story ~ find in comments}
Mama never talked about father. She said the town-folk would never understand. She said shadows flickered in their souls.
But sometimes when the moon was full she would take us with her, holding a candle above the high summer grass and take us to a tree. She would settle me and my sister in blankets against the tree and press her fingers against the running lines of its’ bark.
There she would tell us stories of our father. There she talked to us of how our father had strong shoulders and eyes the colour of bronze. He was a man who would read books in the highest tree branches and played tricks on the wood cutters. How he would tell her jokes, play hide and seek in the meadow and pull his weight in the local mines. She never said he was a good or a bad man, simply a man who lived and loved her.
When we asked her where he went, she would say he could not stay with us. Then, she would smoothly move on to say how he would hold us in his arms as babes and whisper prayers in our ears.
Away from the tree our father did not exist. But near the tree our father was as alive and as real as the blanket we clutched against the cold. Before we left the tree, mama would sing a song, her sweet voice echoing through the trees.
Are you, are you612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ubw1ytXmx
Coming to the tree612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHbNvVLREn
Where dead man called out612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ5RxJAkvZL
For his love to flee612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6QdMgfvQq8
Strange things did happen here612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvI5uXuYDli
No stranger would it be612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq1o5MEBBs7
If we met at midnight612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpCLJLWAi3v
In the hanging tree
I never thought more of it than a pretty song, a tradition. Years passed. We worked hard. I never saw a relative, I was told they had died of a sickness before we were born. My mother talked less and less about our father. The full moon visits stopped. When I had time, I would clamber up the tree and sit in its branches, imagining myself like my father.
On my sixteenth birthday my mama took me to see the tree, her candle flickering in the dark once again. As she walked she sang,
“Are you, are you612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm1Ed5p5YVj
Coming to the tree612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzEbbUWsEr4
Where dead man called out612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡap2gVoa6Bl
For his love to flee612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEA3Dfl4KK
Strange things did happen here612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgLuhcrjMV3
No stranger would it be612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡllT4NIRrne
If we met at midnight612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWYmGPhhQ3e
In the hanging tree”
There in the bosom of the tree mama eyed me quietly until she lifted her head and sang more words, words I had never heard before.
“Are you, are you612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTcTx8KBEFL
Coming to the tree612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqvLVsDvxfg
They strung up a man612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQNiaidjR5a
They say who murdered three612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU47VrARVM8
Strange things did happen here612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡummEOcEWgJ
No stranger would it be612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuoWujS0LMl
If we met at midnight612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4kQt3dHoK
In the hanging tree.”
There she explained how father died, strung up for murdering three men. There she admitted the three men had been her uncle and his two sons. Her family had died when she was little, leaving her with relatives. It was not a happy home. She was belittled, played with, beaten. My father had gone to see her and found a scene he had not bargained for. She had not bargained on his anger, as fierce and deadly as a housefire. My father was found guilty and hanged. He had not argued or pleaded or justified. He had kissed her and left for the hanging tree.
I looked up at the tree, our tree, my tree. At my father’s legacy.
“Mama,” I had said at last, “what does the song mean?”
She did not answer my question, only silent tears. She told me she had tried to stop them, she had tried to explain. But no one listened. He only asked for two things from her. He had asked her not to come to the hanging tree when they took him away, but to visit him after he was gone.
And so, she had.
We returned home and never talked of it.
My sister was married, then I was. To a woman who sang our children to sleep and laughed at my jokes. She followed me when I climbed trees, and produced me a son I never knew I would love so dearly.
One night as I was feeding our chickens I heard my mother’s voice ring through the village, her candle flame dancing far away in the breeze.
“Are you, are you612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyg01WuhUtu
Coming to the tree612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2wiQchU3S
Wear a necklace of hope612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfTw6J5Jl6P
Side by side with me612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE9IsRbG3ZE
Strange things did happen here612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBFcuaHWes
No stranger would it be612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaUZ5HCwndQ
If we met at midnight612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTBdsUthQd
In the hanging tree.”
Before I knew I was moving I was sprinting for the tree, scattering chickenfeed and ruffled chickens as I went. No mama. No mama.
When I made it to the tree the wind whistled and whispered the song to me, as eerie as the flickering candle lying on its’ side. The silence screamed in my ears, leaving nothing but the gentle creak of a hangman’s noose. There my mama danced, her arms limp and still. Her face was peaceful, as though she had awaited this for many a year.
And still the wind murmured the song, beckoning me to sing along.
“Are you, are you612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGIRFMkAz1
Coming to the tree612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZd4RnoKRkj
Where they strung up a man612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmcwTE9JhRp
They say who murdered three612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJVARFr6Jjs
Strange things did happen here612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv2SZeGCVwM
No stranger would it be612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD1WCzcZCNz
If we met at midnight612Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQYoLXkfxF
In the hanging tree.”
