December 6, 2012

A gray uncertain morning, overcast and subdued.  There is no fog because there is a breeze, but things still look dim and blurred because of the deep clouds.  I have not heard many birds for several days now, the quiet is eerie and unsettling.  Cats have been roaming through, but not staying long enough to scare the birds; everything seems restless and uneasy today. 

The trees are changing every day now, some think its fall some don't, some think it's spring and are making new leaves.  This weather, warm and cool by turns, humid and occasionally very dry, deep clouds or deep blue, it seems to be confusing to just about everything.  The trees are confused .  . . unlike the one in this poem . . .

The Maple Tree

The maple tree that night
Without a wind or rain
Let go its leaves
Because its time had come.
Brown veined, spotted,
Like old hands, fluttering in blessing,
They fell upon my head
And shoulders, and then
Down to the quiet at my feet.
I stood, and stood
Until the tree was bare
And have told no one
But you that I was there.

Eugene McCarthy

And I am not sure my trees recognize the time has come, and they all have different responses to the world this fall.  The silly sawtooth oak thinks it's spring and is pushing off the dead brown leaves and making new ones.  The maple has one yellow leaf at the bottom and a few at the crown so it is not letting go of summer.  Trees seem to be like people, all have their own times and their own reactions to things.  This morning I'm with the maple who is not letting go of summer, because I know it's not spring yet, but though it's December I still have a hard time thinking of this as winter.  I know it will be cold later, February is often our coldest month, but for the moment I will take the long warm fall as a treasure.  

This poem reminds me of watching the mulberry trees shed their leaves one morning at Mom's.  Dawn and I were there for her birthday and Dawn came in and said, "You've got to see this!"  And when I went out on the front porch the mulberry trees at the edge of the road had decided it was time to let go, and in the space of an hour, every leaf was on the ground.  They fell in clumps, they fell singly, but they fell quickly and just kept falling until there were none left.  Dawn and I watched in a kind of weird fascination, never having seen trees decide in a moment that they were done with leaves.  But I'm glad she had me come look, it is one of those strange experiences that stick with you.

No matter what the weather today, I hope your day is sunny with kindness and beauty!