The Poems: Crimson
Autumn is of Letting Go.
Autumn is of letting go, returning
to the ground in slow surrender.
We rise, then fall, once green,
now crimson, pouring out to
earth like the blood of the covenant.
We wonder most in autumn if
there is something beyond everything.
Hold on as long as strength allows to
flare into the charis-wheel of
burning mortal glory until the
sweetness is as it should be,
seeped into the rhizome
rooted dark and deep.
This is the season we learn our names,
leaves in the wind,
loose and lost
into everything.
Immersion in untoward loss, grief, and surrender is an encounter with autumn ethos. The word descent best describes the character of the season. Everything seems to be falling away. I have always loved the month of October for its revelations. The colors of it are demanding our attention. And no less, the colors of our inner landscape —the deep, dark blood-wrought richness of aging — are walking each of us through the very real encounters with the truths of mortality and the humility that is required to embrace them.
I am so angry these days at what I am losing. Autumn is always my season for reflecting on the deeper courage and grace I yearn for. That’s always where the sweetness is.
Love this!!