Beautiful Moments: Walking into the “Death of Autumn”

This week, my husband Jamey and I ventured in to the woods to see the world “stripped of its secret.” In this seemingly seemingly stark and monochromatic wilderness, it is easy to miss the subtle beauty of the natural world.  I hope this post inspires you to keep connecting with the earth this December.

Following the winding path-away-from-the-path,

getting swept away by rippling waters,

traveling with the fallen leaves

Exploring solitude together

admiring at a distance

Finding the glow of life

rooted in the dying

Discovering unearthed compositions,

 life lying intertwined,

open and bare

Exploring the roots of the beginning

washed to the surface by time and natural forces

Wondering about the crevice and spaces

Little secrets rarely explored

hiding places for tiny hearts

Tracing the veins of color,

with gentle fingertips

pressing to the center of a thing exposed

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And lastly,  a poem for you I quoted at the beginning of the post.  Enjoy!

The Death of Autumn

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

When reeds are dead and a straw to thatch the marshes,
And feathered pampas-grass rides into the wind
Like aged warriors westward, tragic, thinned
Of half their tribe; and over the flattened rushes,
Stripped of its secret, open, stark and bleak,
Blackens afar the half-forgotten creek,–
Then leans on me the weight of the year, and crushes
My heart. I know that beauty must ail and die,
And will be born again,–but ah, to see
Beauty stiffened staring up at the sky!
Oh, Autumn! Autumn!–What is the Spring to me?

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This post is from the on-going series Beautiful Moments, a practice where I explore mindful gratitude in my daily life.

Where did you find a beautiful moment this week? Be a part of the conversation!