An offering. A pinecone A buckeye An acorn. Fall descends Like sleep. At first, a gradual shift into shadows Then, a swift plunge Into chilly darkness. Nature gives up her vibrancy And turns inward. A curious melancholy envelopes me. I search my heart For what I am to learn In the winter days ahead. There is an enduring ache In my lungs A protracted pain In leaving behind what is already ending. I am overcome with a primal urgency. Divining biting winds, The shortening of days, The shroud of snows to come. Like a bat or bear or bee I instinctively begin to craft My nest, my cave, my hive. Aristotle called it telos. Becoming. The final cause. The eye sees. The knife cuts. The bird flies. But who am I Alone at twilight? Who will I be When the mystic torpor Of the long winter lifts? There is so little time. The only way is forward. So I pick up the gifts in my path. A pinecone So jagged and rough, Emitting the sharp, sweet scent of sap Its static spirals in limitless motion. A buckeye Freed from its Tri-parted husk, So black and smooth and shiny against my fingers Its helium a scar, an iris, Turning its all-seeing gaze at me. An acorn Tipping its oaky cap, So tiny, so exposed Its essence a forest, A universe of infinite possibilities. I hold these offerings With reverence And turn them in my hands. Talismans For what I might become. Sustenance for the passage. Strength for the crossing.
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WE NEED THIS
Lovely. Soothes me after the pain of the day.