Fifty in October

It has become a personal tradition to write a poem every year for my birthday. This year I turn 50, at a time of enormous changes and challenges. Still I face the future with optimism and a belief in those underlying truths which are the base on which I build my life.

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Fifty in October

 

Wind has woken, whispers chill warnings,

shakes green from foliage, from fronds.

Trees turn from her icy temper, turn inward,

let summer leaves fade to yellow, to brown,

blown, starved in favor of future buds,

to cold ground.

 

A start to the end, an ending

Clears paths to future starts, nests fall

but only dry eggshells recall days of rebirth,

cycling, recycling pasts, futures laid down

with death, decay, after fading away

in wet ground.

 

A tree tall at peak of life;

autumn can change, tear leaves,

wind can bend and break branches

but roots run deep, gold-crowned

splendidly steadfast, unshakable

in loamy ground.

 

 

Nyborg 2016

7 thoughts on “Fifty in October

  1. What a deep and thoughtfull poem. Congratulations with the round birthday ,Rilla you are like the tall tree in the last verse.

  2. This is lovely, Rilla.

    Because I know it is a certain birthday for you, the relevance strikes me, particularly the last stanza.

    Stands alone however, without the birth date knowledge.

    • Thank you Christine. It is relevant for me right now, but as you say, hopefully also relevant at other levels.

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