Autumn melancholy: A Triplet

Consider this example of a bardic triplet from Welsh poetry:

 

Y ddeilen a drevyd Gwynt --
Gwae hi o'i thynged --
Hên hi! Eleni y ganed!

 

The wind winged leaf --
So sad its fate --
But! This year was it born!

 

So: it is officially autumn (as amusing as an official start proclaimed by humanity might be!) and our thoughts shift. The last of the harvest is being gathered, the colours are almost finished changing, and soon the trees will be bare.

 

After the firey glory of summer and the excitement of the richest days of harvest it can be hard to look at autumn without at least a twinge of melancholy. We know, of course, that this little death has riches of its own, that winter has a sere beauty for those who can embrace it, and that in any case spring will come again and bring another burst of life and growth, and the promise of yet another season of riches not long after.

 

And with it another glorious leaf not unlike this one.

 

Why, then, should we mourn when a leaf falls, to be lofted on a frosty autumn wind?

 

There are lessons here for more than just a literal autumn of course. And so today's meditation:

What is your leaf? What do you mourn? Without denying the sad aspects of it, how else might it be seen?