A Late August Morning
28 Friday Aug 2015
Posted Poetry, Summer Sustenance
in28 Friday Aug 2015
Posted Poetry, Summer Sustenance
in14 Tuesday Oct 2014
Posted Poetry
inYear after year I find myself saddened by a loss (or multiple losses) during the season of autumn. I’ve mourned deaths in other seasons, but so many of these deaths occurred in the fall that I started to reflect upon the season and its relation to death. Of course, like the warm colors of autumn leaves and bounty of the fall harvest, there’s a beauty in this season and in death. Oftentimes one’s passing inspires an occasion to honor the life of that person in a meaningful way.
My grandfather passed away two years ago this season. During the weeks surrounding his death, I felt uplifted in stories and images from his life. His death inspired me to create a picture collage for his memorial. It also inspired reflection that led to the poem below.
Perhaps this poem will inspire a new outlook during this season of loss and promise.
Warm colors cover summer’s glow As trees’ farthest extensions descend Below tired feet, above pavement streets They commune with the perished and perishing A season of its own or A punctuation to mark finality? Oh mournful autumn! Golden collages atop outstretched arms And ruby gems drop from branches Forest greens turn supremely tangerine Each fiery tree top dances When swift winds release leaf from life Colors deplete to the brown of earthen soil Where a nest, for seedlings whose roots extend, Houses both beginning and end Not one escapes the barrenness Seen in winter’s predecessor And how the trees do mourn with me When losing life’s small splendors Yet there is abounding joy To harvest in this season And there is hope in seeds of life to be