It is the apex of summer.
Trees celebrate.
The water is wide
and even.
Sailboats are in casual stride
up towards Isle Royale
or across to the Apostles.
It is a time of play,
of resurgence,
of deft companionship
and outrageous
melody.
But one day soon,
appearing,
couched
in the grass
or in the
bevy of tree canopy,
a speckled leaf
will appear,
orange and
sometimes
yellow.
It will shout the coming
of autumn, the change in
character, the disruption
of joy and relaxed candor.
As suddenly,
life will become
more serious,
more deliberate,
more sober.
While not there yet,
the seasons will announce
a chilling amplitude.
Ducks foraging will be alerted
to soon migration. Beavers
might pick up the pace.
Canoeists might guard what
little time they have left
in the border country,
among the pines.
Life is altered.
With the coming of
that single leaf,
we know our
perspective
is changing.
We watch ever more deliberately
for life’s advantages, we wait
ever more aware of tomorrow’s
benedictions.
We grow mindful of the time,
keep watch over our anxiousness
and sorrow, while we yet celebrate
this festival of emerging color.
Summer shapes itself
into harvest-time.
We accept its eternal pace,
step in line to its rhythm,
reluctant acceptance,
yet fearful of the disquiet
one leaf can bring.
From the book "Nature's Poetry of Life:
Who's Watching Who?" Available at all
GM bookstores and on Amazon. Always
a great seasonal gift or book for a rainy day.