Friday, November 29, 2013

The Interval

Thanksgiving and the first day of Hanukkah behind us,
Christmas and Kwanzaa ahead.
Once the calendar shows December,
I concede that autumn is almost officially over and winter about to begin.

But in the interval between Thanksgiving and December 1st,
I cling to the colors and pleasures of autumn.
I figure a month for the Christmas holidays is enough,
so why rush so quickly away from autumn?

Bittersweet is one of the things I love about Fall.
When I was a kid, bittersweet grew wild over the old fences and hedgerows.
I have always loved its rich red-orange berries and vining habit.


Another part of autumn that brings me pleasure:
the last few leaves clinging to the trees
and the intense brightness of the daylight 
that spills through the bare branches:

And sumac berries, how could one think of autumn
without thinking of them?

And the sumac's leaves in autumn ignite fire in the landscape:

Lao Tzu said, "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."
A good thing to remember this time of year.
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