As Long As This Exists

by Zoe Pollock

Bonnie Alter has found a nice epitaph for the death of the long-sick chestnut tree outside Anne Frank's attic, which finally fell this week under heavy winds. From Anne's own diary in February of 1944:

Nearly every morning I go to the attic to blow the stuffy air out of my lungs. From my favorite spot on the floor I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree, on whose branches little raindrops shine, appearing like silver, and at the seagulls and other birds as they...