Hmmm, what lessons should we take from the blaze of October splendour?
It is that marvellous time in October when the fall colours have reached their peak. A single scan of the landscape below my window reveals a rainbow canopy of earthy orange, mustard yellow, rusty red and burnt umber with occasional splashes of white-freckled green.
If only it were possible to freeze-frame this view and preserve it for the frigid winter days that lie ahead. But that is the bittersweet quality of autumn at its climax. This exclamation mark is simultaneously the sign that change is in the air.
Over the next few weeks the leaves will release their fragile grip, tumble-twirl to the ground and curl into dried wisps. The trees will sigh one last time and surrender to winter slumber. The last of the migrant birds will depart one night with no fanfare.
The October harvest of colour is a metaphor for eternal successions to which we are relentlessly tied. All of life ebbs and flows through time-honoured cycles. There is no pause button at our disposal. We bear witness to the passage of time and tides but cannot influence them. The most we can do is honour them by never turning away from elemental truths:
Life is fleeting. Time is borrowed. Regrets are futile. Face into the wind.
~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog.
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Tags: autumn · face into the wind · fall colours · harvest · metaphor · Michael Robert Dyet · OctoberNo Comments