The Rhythm of Loss and Life - An Autumn Poem by Marissa Pendlebury:

Twilight breaks through the twinning of trees,

Each sweep of a sun ray, interweaving all manner of leaves

I hear as their soft twigs finally snap,

And a flutter of sweet smoky amber falls to its back

Resting upon the nourishment quenched woodland floor

The ground speaks its wisdom and calls out for more

I look skywards to see an effervescent paparazzi-like light,

Through the canopy mesh it flickers, blinding my sight.

The voices of wildness chime with its glee

Perhaps its nameless choir is a calling to me?

I feel grounded, connected to this mystical allure

But No being can know what this intuitive forest must soon endure…

A shatter of hearts, a breaking of bones.

A decay of what spring and summer once freely proposed

But in the tragedy of loss and amplified strife,

There is a hope, a tomorrow, a promise of life

For in the times where we all must reluctantly fall

There is a space for silence and hibernation to hear our new call

Trespassing on through the trenches, each foot crunching upon what has already been

I can’t help but feel quite viciously mean

Yet, my own deep nature instinctively knows

That its what we learn to lose that makes us all grow

My arms outstretched, hoping to save at least one free falling being from its frivolous fate

Part of me knows i’m just prolonging the wait

A wait for the stark hibernation and sewing of seeds,

For in darkness and lack, that is where life’s true energy breathes.

And as a newly dying beauty brushes the tips of my hand,

I gently release it to fall like grains to the sand.

No true loss here, as I have myself to remind,

That the cycles of life and loss are one of a kind.