The monk continued:
"For, I know the pain of betrayal, as do you old tree
I know the pain of being shunned
as do you, old tree
I also know that the way to my freedome has been letting go of all expectations and then somehow at that moment, I became more beautiful in the eyes of others, but it no longer mattered, because I had learned to myself! 
What a fool I had been, tree!!  By focusing on the pain, I forgot myself.  And by forgetting my own happiness through forgetting myself, I became self absorbed.   Ha! The answers came, sitting here, year after year after year.  And I worked on it every day, no matter how bad the pain. "
And a tear of joy fell from the monk's smiling face, a tear representing many complexities in its miniscule form: a tear of pain, angst, survival and ultimately joy.
The tear was felt by me, as the tree, and it evaporated into my bark and became a part of me.
Belly laughs! Gutteral sounds emerged from this happy, old monk as he reached around me, the old fat tree, and he blessed our friendship.
I had learned that over all these years of being a tree that I had not a voice.  So I learned to speak the monk's language.  I just had to let my best friend, the old monk, know I was listening. 
More than ever, I had to let him know I understood. 
All those years when the other monks walked by, all those years when I thought nobody loved me. 
So, I reached my old, decrepid branch down to his cheek, decorated with soft leaves and brush the monk's cheek.
While collecting moisture from the earth with all of my might, I released a droplet of water to let the man know that I too cried tears of joy for knowing what true beauty was and what friendship really means.
 
The monk , startled, felt the branch and the water.  And he looked up at the sun again and he patted my trunk softly and said, "I knew you were listening!"
 

ME AS A TREE
ABOUT A FRIENDSHIP