Beauty and Loss

Summer is ending
I feel it in my body
A heaviness like swimming in my clothes
Like clockwork, the familiar heavy ache of summer
s l o w l y
f a d i n g
                         a  w  a  y

Transitioning to autumn feels similar to the slow, steady peeling of a sticky, stubborn bandage. Just like tearing it off, the leaves would let go, temperatures would plummet, and snow flurries would fall.

Challenging as it is
the beauty of autumn sings
so I yield to the transition
as it shifts, I shift

I walk.
(movement helps)
I walk. Observe.
(looking helps)
I walk. Observe. Breathe.
(breathing always helps)
I walk. Observe. Breathe. Listen.
(listening can help even when the birds are [mostly] quiet)

//  field notes (Aug-Sept) \\

Evening and morning symphony
Crickets
the familiar chirping
white noise

Swamp Maple
yellow, orange, speckled leaves
appear next to neighboring green

Patient grasshoppers
jump in the grass
hoping to find their mate

Dry reaching
day-lily stalks
stitch the road in clusters
last topped with orange jewel petals

Low-angled, soft light
streams through
mature wildflower meadows:
Queen Anne’s Lace
Blazing Star Rods
Asters
Partridge Pea
Milk Weed

Dark green oaks leaves
rustle
against
a bluebird sky

We can carry joy and sorrow at the same time.