Free Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler

particular is very familiar. Only last week, we planted trees and spoke words for the Dovetrees. I said,
    "We give our dead
    To the orchards
    And the groves.
    We give our dead
    To We."
    I paused, took a deep breath, and continued in slow mea-sured tones.
    "Death
    Is a great Change—
    Is life's greatest Change.
    We honor our beloved
    dead.
    As we mix their essence
    with the earth,
    We remember them,
    And within us,
    They live."
    "We remember," the others whispered. "They live."
    I stood silent for a moment, gazing out toward the tall per-simmon, avocado, and citrus trees. Bankole's sister and brother-in-law had planted these trees, had brought them as young plants from southern California, half expecting them to die here in a cooler climate. According to Bankole, many of them did die, but some survived as the climate changed, warmed. Old-timers among our neighbors complain about the loss of their fog, rain, and cool temperatures. We don't mind, those of us from southern California. To us it's as though we've come to a somewhat gentler version of the homes we were forced to leave. Here, there is still water, space, not too much debilitating heat, and some peace. Here, one can still have orchards and groves. Here, life can still come from death.
    The little girls had gone back to sit with May. May hugged them, one small, dark-haired child in each arm, all three of them still, solemn, listening.
    I began a new verse, almost a chant, "
    Darkness
    Gives shape to the light
    As light
    Shapes the darkness.
    Death
    Gives shape to life
    As life
    Shapes death.
    God
    And the universe
    Share this wholeness
    Each
    Defining the other:
    God
    Gives shape to the
    universe
    As the universe
    Shapes God "
    And then, after a moment of silence, the last, the closing words:
    "We have lived before
    We will live again
    We will be silk,

    Stone,
    Mind,
    Star,
    We will be scattered,
    Gathered,
    Molded
    Probed.
    We will live,
    And we will serve life.
    We will shape God
    And God will shape us
    Again,
    Always again
    Forevermore."
    Some people whispered that last word—echoed it. Zahra quoted in a voice almost too soft to be heard,
    "God is Change,
    And in the end
    God prevails."
    Her husband Harry put his arm around her, and I saw that her eyes were bright with unshed tears. She and Harry may be the most loyal, least religious people in the community, but there are times when people need religion more than they need anything else—even people like Zahra and Harry.

Chapter 4
    ? ? ?
    From EARTHSEED: THE BOOKS OF THE LIVING
    To shape God
    With wisdom and

    forethought,
    To benefit your world,
    Your people,
    Your life,
    Consider consequences,
    Minimize harm
    Ask questions,
    Seek answers,
    Learn,
    Teach.
    FROM Memories of Other Worlds
    Our coast redwood trees are dying.
    Sequoia sempervirens is the botanical name for this tallest of all trees, but many are evergreen no longer. Little by lit-tle from the tops down, they are turning brown and dying.
    I do not believe that they are dying as a result of the heat.
    As I recall, there were many redwoods growing around the Los Angeles area—Pasadena, Altadena, San Marino, places like that. I saw them there when I was young. My mother had relatives in Pasadena and she used to take me with her when she went to visit them. Redwoods growing that far south reached nothing like the height of their kind here in the north, but they did survive. Later, as the climate changed, I suppose they died as so many of the trees down south died—or they were chopped down and used to build shelters or to feed the cooking fires of the homeless.
    And now our younger trees have begun to die. This part of Humboldt County along the coast and in the hills—the local people call these coastal hills "mountains"—was cooler when I was a boy. It was foggy and rainy—a soft, green climate, friendly to most growing things. I believe it was already changing nearly 30 years ago when I bought the land that became Acorn. In the not-too-distant