There is a tree that towers over the rooftops of the cottages opposite to our own – if you did not search for it, you probably wouldn’t see it or its subtle message to our challenged world. Here in the fading light I can just about make out its naked branches dancing in the autumn wind, so majestic yet somehow also so unassuming. Its shadows whisper a song about death and decay whilst its solid presence paradoxically speaks of continuity and hope. The tree, if we choose to listen, teaches us about life amongst death and then life beyond even that.

At a time when we find ourselves surrounded by the ending of life, it is hard to consider what comes next or indeed, how death can be accepted – especially when it has not been anticipated. Whether we are aware or not of our own time to die, we will each inevitably leave an energetic legacy upon this world which is both a physical…