Peach Trees

In Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams, a boy explains that he cried when his family cut down the peach trees because while peaches can be bought, you can’t buy a whole orchard in bloom.He is, of course, right. More and more I find that I am interested in things that cannot be bought. Fresh peaches, peach desserts, peach-infused tea—they are all wonderful but their pleasures last only in the moments in which I consume them. On the other hand, to be able to see a peach tree, to have it near you all the time—the joy that experience gives me shifts around the cluttered feelings inside me and makes room for a view of the world that is slightly newer. 

The movie goes on to show a dance of the dolls as a representation of the peach trees in bloom. Or at least the memory of the blooms before the trees were cut. I don’t think I will ever see a peach tree in the same way again.