I am an autumn tree.
My strong black skeleton,
Dark arms branching
Into twiggy tangles of fragile fingers,
Is swathed in leaves
Still green with sap,
Soft, flexible
They hold firm.
But ageing now
Dry, leathery and yellowing
Burnished with the brown of death
They cling less
And thin into a sprinkling
Which f l u t t e r s away
Leaving me
Naked
A combination of the view from my window, and how I am feeling at the moment. Sorry if it seems morbid, but perhaps it is the season. November is the month when I tick off another year on the calendar of my life, and that always brings the reminder of my mortality.
More encouragingly November was celebrated as the start of the new year in the Celtic calendar. A reminder that the journey into winter, the dying of the year, letting go and being stripped back, was the way towards the new life of spring and the light at the end of the tunnel.
Putting it into a metaphor form was another prompt from John Fox’s “Finding what you didn’t lose” which I am enjoying and you can find on Amazon if you click here
Weavers Journal 
Absolutely love John Fox – I have FWYDL – you might like to get hold of Poetic Medicine as well – I think you’d love that. (I also have a DVD of John working therapeutically with very sick people in hospital – but I sent for it from the States and so had to change the zone on my computer to view it. (you can do this a few times, i believe). You are welcome to borrow it if you want to try it.
I love your metaphor, by the way :-). Not morbid at all – you are acknowleding the seasons of the soul as well as those of nature. Below the surface, much is occurring…but even nature needs to rest, as perhaps we ought to do in this time of the darker days.
Lovely post xxx
Thank you Roz, encouraging as ever, and I know you understand the seasons of the soul….
I will look out for Poetic Medicine too.
Hello Weaver,
I liked your poem. Autumn does feel a bit blerk, but your focus on colour was nice 🙂
Not sure where you live, but there is a textiles exhibition coming up which you may find interesting: http://www.comptonverney.org.uk/modules/events/event.aspx?e=194&title=daily_exhibition_tours
Thank you for the pointer to the exhibition. Sadly not near to me, but it looks vey interesting. And thanks for commenting too!
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