The leaves are out

The leaves are out

 in full colours today

 oh, what splendour!

 oh... what beauty.

Autumn is the greatest 

 month.

A time for remembrance,

a time for grieving.

Grieving can be beautiful too,

 said my mother.

Then, she died.

In spring, as the flowers

 blossomed

my mother, brought in

 the groceries

 before retreating to bed

 for a rest,

 she shut her eyes,

 peaches in the sky.

Half a year hence

 a half year of grey,

 the burning sun,

 air-conditioning,

 hot, sleepless nights.

But autumn is the greatest 

 month.

A time for walks

 through yellow woods,

a time for shorebirds

 to take flight,

a time for beautiful men

 , like me, 

 to sit quietly and wonder.

 Autumn 

 is the greatest month.

 An autumn like this

 comes around

 only once. 

--7th november 2024.

Author's Note

still not a hundred per cent. getting there. i will try to respond and comment on everyone's work as much as i can.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I feel this...autumn is my favorite season and I lost my mother several years ago.
My favorite picture of her is one taken in Vermont on a beautiful fall day and she is standing in front of a maple tree, decked out in its orange and gold...and she in her Pendleton jacket.
j.

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

thanks for sharing J. i hope this year is a year to blossom

[Laz K.]

"haha...yeah,"...i said to myself reading "beautiful men like me." Diane Ackerman has a nice essay titled "Why Leaves Turn Color in the Fall." A short excerpt that resonates with your thoughts above:

An odd feature of the colors is that they don’t seem to have any special purpose. We are predisposed to respond to their beauty, of course. They shimmer with the colors of sunset, spring flowers, the tawny buff of a colt’s pretty rump, the shuddering pink of a blush. Animals and flowers color for a reason—adaptation to their environment—but there is no adaptive reason for leaves to color so beautifully in the fall any more than there is for the sky or ocean to be blue. It’s just one of the haphazard marvels the planet bestows every year. We find the sizzling colors thrilling, and in a sense they dupe us. Colored like living things, they signal death and disintegration.

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

that's very ineresting, i did not know that. sometimes i am vain and think that nature is so beautiful just to please me haha. but maybe i asnt wrong?

and yes, that line is meant to be sardonic. although some have told me that i am, though i think they're just being polite.

[Fabian G. Franklin]

This is so beautiful, the tender love practically spilling from the page like blood from an open wound. And Autumn seems to be trying to place a bandage over the hurt by bleeding her own colors in solidarity. I think you really are a "beautiful man". Thanks for sharing your splendid words with us.

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

thank you for a most wonderful critique. that "beautiful" line was of course, sarcasm. but i am flattered. Ern

[Fabian G. Franklin]

I believe beauty always comes from within and exudes without but never from without reaching inward. I've seen many place high regard on outward appearances, make-up, clothing, jewelry, tattoos, hair styles etc. But it never changes the person beneath the "show". But if you meet one truly beautiful person in your life you know that they will always be beautiful, even to death, without make-up, jewelry or fancy clothes. The beautiful people are not on fashion runways though. They are usually simple, shy, folk who live their live unobtrusively doing deeds of kindness without recognition. "Out of a fullness of the heart the mouth speaks" so according to that proverb our words can be more an indication of our inward beauty than anything on the outside. Reading your words and understanding the place where such words come from, I feel that you really are a beautiful man. Blessings of light, peace and hope. F.

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

thanks Fabian. very thought-provoking. i think i have met a few people like that. if i am one of them or not, it's not for me to say. but i appreciate your words. thank you friend! Ern.

[MrBlack202]

I love how you paint vivid imagery in the readers mind. Taking the reader on a walk through the autum season.

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

thank you! appreciate your support always. see you again.

[Patricia Wedel]

dear EW... a Mother's passing in the Autumn Sunset... will forever bring the Charm of the Specks of Gold in her Eyes. Wishing you Blessings. tenderly. Pat

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

thanks Pat. it's been a confusing time, but i am still able to see colours and for that i am thankful.

[Thomas W Case]

Beautiful work. Great imagery. You paint this scene well.

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

thank you sir!

[Orphic Dreamer]

I admire how you interweaved the beauty of autumn and the loss of a loved one. It is a nostalgic season, the leaves meant to fall for greater things to bloom. An absolutely beautiful piece!

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

thanks Dreamer. i'm glad you ame by to check this poem out. have a good one. and please check out my profile again!

[Betty Hermelee]

A very sensitive piece not only about the beauty of autumn and its colorful, peaceful scene, but flashes of your mother at different times in her life….getting old and gray and then ultimately dying….. this is a well described poem of my favorite season,and a lovey tribute to your mom….
well done!
warmly, B🌷

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

thanks B. i'm always glad to read your comments.

[Betty Hermelee]

you’re very welcome EM🌷
warmly, B

[Neville]

Exquisite ink such as this reminds me of why I want to be a poet one day myself .. Neville

[Sami Khalil]

You write and convey beautifully. Sorry for your loss; both of mine are passed long time ago, although the mother is the hardest. I see how Autumn heightens your senses.
I love Autum, too for many reasons.

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

thanks again for stopping by. the first year is going to be the hardest but i remain strong. and you're right, my senses are heightened and i feel a lot of love for everyone recently.

[Sami Khalil]

Wow! You are welcome Ern.

[Kelly Scheppers]

Since you shared with me a quote by Emily Dickinson, I shall do you the same. This was written by Friedrich Nietzsche, who said "Autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature." How apropos it is, in reading your poem, Ern. I love taking those long walks when the season is in full bloom, with bare trees and leaves blowing in a blustery November wind. I lost my mother many years ago, in autumn. But I carry her memory with me, in my heart and in my soul!

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

thank you Kelly for sharing your comments. i think there is nothing sadder than losing your mother, although it is basically an inevitable part of life. and Nietzsche's words are spot on - i always thought of him more as a poet than a philosopher.