I read this first with no context, and I was interested. It's hard to say what it was exactly, that interested me. There's a lot of negative space here, but something about it tugged at a heartstring or two. So I decided to come back to it the next day and see whether that feeling had changed. Between then and now, I've seen your explanation for your thoughts behind this piece. I'm assuming you didn't mention them here for a reason. While what you said certainly gave me a new lens to view this piece through, I think I can safely say that I would have enjoyed what's here without it. I wish I could know more about what's going on, I wish I knew what significance the tree holds, and I wish I knew quite what it is about the imagery that makes it so arresting. While I have some grasping-at-straws ideas, none of them are strong enough for me to think it's what you were going for. But the point, I guess, is that I'm trying to appreciate what's here, I'm trying to come to terms with it. I like that.
This doesn't hit hard in the sense that I'm left with any strong feeling of peace, or of grief, or anything like that. There's an emptiness to it. That's what hits me.