Berta, Terje and the Banyan Tree

Miami, Florida, USA

2019

Commissioned by Pinecres Botanical Garden. Berta, Terje and the Banyan Tree was dismantled in February 2022.

"Now listen up and let this little story begin
Two trolls in a forest walked around in a ring
The one was the sister, and the other was her brother
They couldn’t find their way, and they couldn’t find their mother

Their names were Berta and Terje, and soon they got tired
So they stopped in a clearing where the forest was quiet
And curiously looked at a little brown bumblebee
As it buzzed between the branches of a beautiful Banyan tree

It was a marvellous tree, the biggest they’d ever seen
With weaving vines, red berries and leaves so evergreen
Under the branches of the Banyan they fell into a dream
Where the little people poured a poison in the Eternity Stream

They dreamt the stream became a river and the river an ocean
The ocean turned to skies, and the skies started floating
Floating back to land, where they soon broke open
The rain woke them up – the sky was black like an omen

Terje told what he had dreamt while they sat in the rain
Berta listened then said ´I dreamt exactly the same´
Terje cried but Berta said ´Wipe your cheeks, wipe your tears
We will keep the water blue and make the dream disappear

Remember mother taught us how the Banyan is holy
That it can talk if you listen closely, quiet and slowly´
So the trolls sat by the tree and whispered in its wooden ear
´Dear Banyan can you help us? Please, I hope you can hear´
"