October (again)

This sapling grows out of an old concrete pipe in my backyard and every year it offers a glorious reminder of the revolving seasons. Living in a place where seasons mark the wilderness leaves me sensitive to the passage of time. I wonder if in climes where changes are more subtle, the inhabitants feel suspended, timeless, the days stretching onward without end.

I love blankets of blue, moonlit snow, the contrast of newly unfurled leaves against the black, rain-soaked bark of Oregon. And I’m always ravenous for the summer’s return of the sun. But autumn, in the northern states where I’ve always lived, is a time of great beauty, a time for road trips for the sole purpose of watching the leaves die.

I don’t mean to sound morbid – after all spring’s rebirth is the promise dormant in autumn’s retreat. But there’s something poignant about these revolutions, a reminder to me that my time is indeed limited and not to be wasted.

A couple years ago, I dreamed this poem. I offer it up again, word for word, as it came to me in my sleep.

October

If I drive off the road

Know that I was distracted by the wilderness

Gazing for a moment at gilded leaves

Arched against jagged evergreen

Vine maple blazing in random rays of sun

The woods wet, black branches of the forest bending

Silhouetted by canopies of countless green

Perhaps I beheld a quilted river of fallen crimson and vermilion

Winding along the roadside

Or gazed into the weave and texture of leaves

Layers interlaced, sharp and dense against the sky

I glimpsed fields of weed, browning blade and drying seed

Blending into a tapestry of quiet color before me

If I soar off the road of my life

And fail to rise

Know that my eyes brimmed with beauty.

6 thoughts on “October (again)”

Phil Ryan says:

December 15, 2016 at 5:45 am

If I drive off the road and am charged with driving offences I’ll have my defence quote the words of this piece and I’m bound to get off! (Not condoning poor driving but) lovely poem D, wish I had such dreams 🙂

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D. Wallace Peach says:

December 15, 2016 at 6:06 am

Thanks for reading, Phil. Sometimes the forest is so beautiful I worry about driving off the winding roads! I don’t know if it will get you out of a ticket, but you can try it!! 🙂

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coastalmom says:

August 24, 2015 at 7:34 pm

I love this! I was just thinking… it is going to be October again before you know it. And then I read your last year’s post on October with the exact title I was thinking!
Great words!
xoxo

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