It has been said that trees are imperfect men, and seem to bemoan their
imprisonment rooted in the ground. But they never seem so to me. I never
saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and
though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do. They go wandering
forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves,
traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space
heaven knows how fast and far!
-- John Muir, American Naturalist (1838-1914)
How hard to realize that every camp of men or beast has this glorious
starry firmament for a roof! In such places standing alone on the
mountain-top it is easy to realize that whatever special nests we make -
leaves and moss like the marmots and birds, or tents or piled stone - we
all dwell in a house of one room - the world with the firmament for its
roof - and are sailing the celestial spaces without leaving any track....