Fallen, Forever

Fallen branches wait to be cleared and you now
drop leaves no longer useful. Every day new old leaves drop
and cover the trail again, reshaping it, untouching it. 
Decaying practicality, now open to opportunity.
Nobody has ever walked on my dead parts before—
you will not be the last. This moment is here but will be gone
soon and forever.

Walk by yourself or with another. 
Walk with a loved one or with an enemy. 
Whether you share visions or disagreements
soon you will be walking side-by-side to the same rhythm, 
left foot, right foot, trip. Not indifference but understanding 
will leave my woods today. Hope for another moment together 
soon and forever.

These seconds are rotting apples, sweet but tender. This day 
is a new beginning for the whole world. I am the world. 
This world is mine to live, celebrate, and ignore. 
Who will be the keeper of my destiny, if not myself? 
I hear the honeybee sing to the doe:
“Today is a good day to die.” 
So it is for me and my kingdom.

That End of Summer Feeling

You know it. Everybody has felt it. It’s that feeling when your heart sinks and you realize this time of carefree, easy wandering has come to an end. Though you’ve been working this whole time, you tell yourself, “it’s time to get back to work.” And though every day has been a blessing, you now begin to cherish what little time—if any—you have left to be free.

These last days of summer are squeezed until every drop is salvaged. We do everything we’ve put off until now, and we reminisce of the good times we had in the past months. We appreciate the past and look forward to the future, full of fear and hope and angst as we anticipate the stories of our lives. These final days and beautiful and surreal. They are treasured for they are few.

The real winners in life are the ones who recognize that every day is a a day in the last week of summer. Every day is to be cherished, to be experienced fully. Nothing is to be left on the table. A fall is always around the corner, so this is a time for gratitude.

God bless this final week of summer.