a blazing pillar
Fall can be a powerful metaphor
for how a life can be of glory near its end:
deciduous leaves drop away the green of their work clothes,
for it's time to retire from producing substance,
the maple, the hickory, the tulip poplar,
reveal who they are behind who they've had to be,
anybody could be proud to be as a ginkgo tree
when it has to decide to give up on the work of the year,
and can blaze golden with who it is at its heart,
like humans, the trees can know it's time
to lay down who they've been,
and, at least for a moment,
show who they are down deep,
far too often a tree will be bought low before it's time,
just as people can be brought low too early,
my hope for everyone is that we can be as the ginkgo,
enduring past what might be expected,
and then to be as a golden pillar,
which both knows the bare branches to come
and the glorious reality that was.
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