AUTUMN LEAVES

 A few days ago Mary and I travelled about an hour east of Winnipeg. Our destination was a small community, River Hills, close to Whiteshell Provincial Park. We travelled through many groves of trees, resplendent in the beauty of the colours displayed all around. Our conversation soon went from the beauty all around to the beauty in people, regardless of their season of life. The following is my attempt to capture some of this conversation.

Autumn leaves a myriad of colours

Seems the splash of colour is the last hurrah,

The attempt to show its worth;

To show that autumn is a vital part of life.

We wonder,  therefore, what came before,

And what comes after the colour is gone?

We enjoy this time of year, but realize

That this season falls away into the cold,

Bare trees of winter. The leaves have fallen,

And been scooped up into graves of leaves.

So much is hidden underneath these mounds,

The colours are now only brown, an unsightly mess.

Sometimes small sprouts come up in spring,

To brighten our days with the newness all around;

With the joyous green we soon see everywhere.

We gently watch those tender plants,

And hope that they survive the gusts 

Of hot summer winds that swirl around.

Before we realize it, our summer turned into fall,

And soon the joyous colours again are on display.

The seasons come and go; I wonder do we too

Recognize the seasons of our lives?

If we are joyously engaged with the colours in our lives,

What happens when the colours fade and fall?