Healing in death

There's two ways to kill a tree. The quick way is to cut it in half. It topples over and that's that.

The other way is to cut into the tree so deeply that it cannot heal. The tree then begins to bleed to death. Dies from the top down. First the leaves on the crown dry up, turn brown, and fall off. Then the process of desiccation proceeds downward. The tree dies by inches. First leaves dry up, then branches become brittle. Sapless. Riddled with dry rot. Insects invade the tree and consume it from within. 

Outwardly the tree may remain intact until a wind storm blows it over. Outwardly, it still looks sturdy, but that's deceptive.

Grief can be slow death. We rebound from some losses but other losses may cut too deep to heal. There's a tendency to view death as tragic for the decedent, but sometimes death is a merciful release, while death may be tragic for the survivor. Sometimes it takes two deaths to heal one death. There's healing from death and then there's healing in death.