Autumn Trees
Autumn trees shed leaves,
Like faded memories,
Shaking off the past,
To reveal their naked truth;
Then waiting, in wintry silence,
To be reborn.
We scrunch those piebald leaves
Between our toes;
And toss them in the air
With wild abandon.
How wonderful to be,
An Autumn tree,
Flinging off its clothes and shouting,
“Look at Me.”
Mandy Edwards © 2014
Autumn Trees came to me out of the blue (as many of my poems do) as I began raking the autumn leaves from under the trees in our orchard. The first line floated into my consciousness and I felt compelled to rush inside and write the poem. Then I resumed raking leaves; feeling satisfied, joyful, and complete. Stripped to my naked truth, just like the autumn trees. A friend of mine, Clem McGrath also explores the idea of “standing naked” in truth when he responded so eloquently to me once as I pondered the idea of giving up all my ‘spiritual seeking’ and just be myself; unadorned.
“The deepest question we can ask, is: ‘If I let go of the process I am invested in – the seeking, hoping, expecting, needing, projecting and more – then who will I be, and will I get my heart’s desires? It takes high courage to go there. Yet go there we must and stand naked in the knowing.”
(Clem McGrath, 2018).
That sounds like perfect freedom to me.
