AFTER BEING STRAFED by tornadoes and super-bursts of wind in the past year, Greater Rome has a rainstorm come through and it knocks down the big mulberry tree shading the courtyard of Schroeder’s New Deli on Broad Street?

Maybe it was one of those “simple twists of fate” that Bob Dylan sings about but that is a saddening loss given all the musicians who performed on the stage built alongside it, and all the audiences shaded by it.

Stages are easy to rebuild. Trees take a lot longer to grow, even a mulberry which is notoriously fast-growing and usually described as a “weed tree.” Meaning it is not considered good for much by those who grow — and fell — trees for a living although its berries are actually edible and used in jams and cobblers.

Most of all though, the tree provided a special setting for a special small outdoor venue along a special strip of businesses known as Broad Street that is increasingly alive with the sound of special music.

That tree will be missed, particularly by older residents unlikely to be able to stick around long enough to see its like again. However, younger residents could. Let us hope that is planned. After all, along historic Broad Street tomorrow should always be like yesterday.