I have never seen a tree like this. I was completely stunned and overwhelmed by it, and my blood was boiling with excitement. Really, in ordinary life, it is difficult to have such people and things that can make me so excited that my blood bursts with blazing flames. Such a tree refreshes my spirit, and suddenly the kind of life that is inherent in my life comes out. The overwhelming power comes.
This is the poplar tree!
Such a tree can only be seen in this desert wasteland. Standing on the banks of the clear and rushing Tarim River, looking at the vast Populus euphratica forests on the north and south banks, I felt an unprecedented shock in my heart, like the raging river water impacting my heart.
Really, as long as you see a tree like this, other trees are too weak and insignificant. It awes the desert with its greenery that lasts for a thousand years, its spirit that lasts for a thousand years, and its immortal bones that last for a thousand years.
When there is no wind, they stand motionless in the sun, solemn and aloof like Zen meditation, and their various manners are like root sculptures - such a huge, wild and weird root sculpture that can never be matched in the world. They quietly watch the changes in the world, the sunset and the sunrise, burying their infinite thoughts deep in their hearts. Each of their trees is a wordless poem that can withstand chewing and thinking!
When the strong wind passed by, their draped branches trembled, like a roaring horse, like a roaring wave. They roar wildly and uninhibitedly, and what they show the world is that a man is heroic at heart and generous with ink. It is a long-lost strength for people in the world who are wearing more and more fancy clothes but it is increasingly difficult to hide their thinness. A spirit!
Such a tree has gone through many vicissitudes of life and gained insights into life. They bury the deepest emotions in the roots, write the strongest beliefs on the branches, and give everything they want to pour out into the flying sand, stones, sun, moon and stars. Such a tree will never be the same as the trees watered by rotating sprinklers in big cities, or the trees pruned as smooth as a woman's newly shaved hair in luxury banquet halls.
I will always cherish and admire this tree! I picked a few Populus euphratica leaves and brought them back to Beijing. My son specially asked me to bring them to him. The leaves are very small, with many brown spots on them, like traces of rust. They are narrower, shorter, and even ugly than willow leaves. But my son said there is no such tree in Beijing. Yes, Beijing does not.