Day 480: Among Trees

  

Trees suddenly acquire a new importance at this time of the year. It's hard not to notice them with their gorgeous autumn colours and their leaves everywhere. They step out of the background into the foreground of the vista of our daily lives. Not just a seasonal marker, they seem to be saying something too. 

When I Am Among the Trees - Mary Oliver

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
   but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, "Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, "It's simple," they say,
"and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine."