Tori Amos - Speaking with Trees

Speaking with Trees

Lyrics by Tori Amos

Speaking with trees
Speaking of my grief
Speaking with trees
I'm almost sure
That they are grieving
With me

When you left
Emptiness
Since you left

I've been hiding your ashes
Under the tree house
Don't be surprised
I cannot let you go
You will be safe here
Safe in the tree house
They will protect you
Of this
I am sure

How am I coping
Losing
Speaking with trees
I'm almost sure
They are igniting memories
For me

When you left
Emptiness
Since you left

I've been hiding your ashes
Under the tree house
Don't be surprised
I cannot let you go
You will be safe here
Safe in the tree house
They will protect you
Of this
I am sure

You only know when you know this
You only know when you know this
You only know when you know this
How you'll cope with your losses

Feel their arms around you
Feel their arms around me
Speaking
Speaking
Speaking with trees

Tori Quotes

In "Speaking with Trees" you sing about hiding your mother's ashes under a tree house in Florida. Do you find solace in visiting this place?

I do, but I haven't been there for 18 months. So I had to find a way to conjure up this place without being able to go there. So I was drawn outside to the trees. I trusted that there was some kind of ancient knowledge that the trees had wisdom. I was interested in how they communicate with each other. Believe it or not, I found that really comforting. By listening to the trees, I began to feel my mother's presence. [Get to Text - October 29, 2021]

I got out of my house and listened to Nature, its own language, the way trees move, the sounds they make. I did some research and I was fascinated by the way trees can communicate with each other, help each other, through an underground network of roots. They call it the "Wood Wide Web" and I found it so incredibly beautiful! It's pure magic! This song is about that and also about accepting the loss of my mother. Something needed to be transcended. Once I was able to connect with Mother Nature, my mother appeared to me when I was no longer so desperate to find her. I think in my desperation I was looking in the wrong place. I realised that my human mother was gone, but my spiritual mother, the Earth, was still there. All indigenous people believe in this. And maybe something in me needed to die. And that something died... maybe it was the way I handled things before, I don't know. [Rolling Stone - November 11, 2021]

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