The Tree in the Sun

This tree on Lembert Dome is blooming where it was planted. Isolated from its brethren, it anchors itself to its granite perch with its tenacious roots. Improbably, it seems to be thriving. It has enjoyed this unfathomable view for decades, branches outstretched and embracing the sun as it courses through the sky each day.

I'm reminded of the scene from The Shawshank Redemption in which Andy, the prisoner who had been wrongfully incarcerated years before, locks himself in the warden's office. He puts on the recording of Mozart's heavenly Sull' aria from The Marriage of Figaro and uses a microphone to amplify the music over the prison loudspeakers. All the prisoners in the yard face the loudspeakers and stand in rapturous silence as the music envelops them:

Meanwhile, back in the warden's office, Andy leans back in his chair with his hands behind his head and simply smiles a far off smile. The warden is infuriated, because when the prisoners hear the music, they suddenly understand that no walls can restrain their hope. They are free.

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow"

Helen Keller