...not only the relief from the heat, but the leaves falling (the drought helped that along!), the growing darkness and the since of stillness that sets in in nature. I love the changes that the seasons bring with them. And how they call for different foods. I made some ginger bread today and my sister said right away: "Ginger bread. Must be fall." Exactly. And also Cindi prepared a fine stew for lunch (using some of our fresh basil) - we never eat stew in the summer! We also fried up yesterday the last bit of St. Paul's famous sausage. Soon it will be sausage supper days again. Anyway, this time of the year always leaves me sad, but contentedly sad. I'm in the "fall" of my own life now. Summer is past. And it has been joyous to be the guest of the Lord on this earth, marveling at his yearly round of beauty and in each season reminding us that this is only the prelude to greater gifts to come.
6 comments:
good words-- if you would have hit the enter-key a few times you would have a poem-- which made me feel a bit guilty in that I took the cooling of these days to be quite negative (see my recent blog poem)...
so I shall have to find the other side, what you call, "contentedly sad." Will, I have over the years tried to understand the autumn downer and so far parsed the feeling in the fall to be one of sadness over the fact that I no longer return to school (or College or Sem), that the routine for so many years is no longer there... the friends, the things we used to do, the classroom challenges... do you agree? and that would not be bad if you could remain in a constant summer vacation mode, but the wind, the chill, the being driven indoors do no allow that. Harvey Mozolak
I enjoyed the poem, Harvey. I read it and resonated before I wrote this; for me, though, fall STILL brings the return to school - for I still teach in our parochial school. A sign of me being in my own fall is that I'm teaching this year a son of a man I taught when I first came to St. Paul's! But I do so love the sad beauty of the season. "He has made all things beautiful in their time" is so amazingly true. This morning as Cindi and I drove back from working out at the Y, the sun was rising about the mists over the fields. It was a poem and gift from God all by itself. It's a look that happens only in the fall - the subtle changes of the light that are almost impossible to capture and how the light should look the same in spring as in fall, but if doesn't at all. It's retiring now, and you can feel it.
one more, not yet your "contented sad" but yes, we are seasoned with theology...
inside wait
inside
to the hook behind the door
and the robe
that has been too warm to wear
its folds becoming creases
suffocating several August flies
that fall to the floor unnoticed
now makes the air bearable
the wait begins
in the snaps of a fireplace
and the assuring hum
of the furnace register
under blankets
and coats with scarfs
the wait for the outdoor life
where skin was enough cover
and trees were wrapped
with warm sweet fruit
Fall of your life? What the hell are you, 50 or so? Hell you might still get a pimple or two at that young age.
My guess is any sadness is way less poetic and theological, but due to sad itself -- SAD, seasonal affective disorder, due to either or both of decreased seratonin production and increased melatonin production.
Or the sure knowledge that after all the dying leaves crash to the floor you'll be out there with a damn snowshovel or snowblower unless you do like the supposedly lower animals that have the sense to head South or hibernate.
Terry, 50 at the moment. Headed for 51 in a couple weeks. But remember, my own father was dead by 59. I have no idea how long I will end up living, of course, but even IF I were to live to 100, which I doubt would be likely at all, then yes, precisely the fall has begun. 0-25 - spring; 25-50 summer; 50-75 fall; 75-100 winter. But now be realistic: say maybe 80? Fall would be 40 to 60, no? See, you're still in fall - BARLEY. ;)
By your "realistic" numbers there's a light snowfall going on in my life!
There is a season that will begin when I wake up, assuming I do. It's called "to-morrow".
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