Turn, turn, turn...

Lo, the Cycle

“All things are meltable, and replaceable. Not at this moment, but soon enough, we are lambs and we are leaves, and we are stars and the shining, mysterious pond water itself.”

Mary Oliver (Upstream, p.61)

Autumn seems to have arrived. The temperature this morning is in the low 50's. Oak leaves cover my yard, and the weeds are high and dry in the flower beds. I remember my grandmother, Mayda, telling me once that she hated autumn because “everything dies.” The hummingbirds are suddenly gone—sensibly flying south. My friend, Andy, will close and cover his swimming pool this week. The orchids will be brought in from the porch today and find places on window sills. Herbs must be moved inside, or bid farewell. I do these chores with appreciation for the regularity of nature's cycle. They are routine rituals that signal the season's change.

Everything does die—that's the cycle of life—but so is rebirth. I hope that my oak tree will wake up next spring and force leaves out of its branches. It has lost its fellow oaks, including the underground network of support they shared, so it's possible that it won't come back. “Doesn't everything die, and too soon?” (Mary Oliver, “The Summer Day”) In her book, Upstream (p.60), Mary Oliver described the life cycle of turtles—typically long living creatures—but most vulnerable before and during hatching. If the eggs, which are buried in the earth, manage to survive the incubation period without a raccoon raid, and the hatchlings make it to the water without being eaten by birds, they just might “live long and prosper.” (Spock) She wrote, “Hardly pausing to consider the world that so suddenly appeared around them, they would turn unerringly toward the dark and rich theater of the nearest pond, would hasten to its edge, and dive in.” The cycle begins—so long as there is not a snapping turtle, or a big bass living in the pond. They, too, must eat. Nature is neither kind nor cruel—it is simply true to itself.

Since all things die, shouldn't we take a moment to appreciate being alive. We are here, right now, reading these words, with eyes that can see and a brain that understands what the words mean. That seems worthy of celebration to me. Seize the day! And don't forget to give thanks.

                                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                                     Jane