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Coalescences

Gathering winds whisk me more and more. A few leaves remain branch bound in defiance, yet fall continues to descend. I can taste the silence and stillness of winter on the horizon, yet my present is still born on crisp gusts. I find myself enchanted by the swings of temperature, lost in the emotions of nature, circling more my own internal notions. I can see first snow falls and smell cinnamon spice reaching back before I can remember, but most of all I hear the ringing of the future and the past reaching far. This time connects me fore and back like no other, a mirror, where my reflection is most clear, a measurement against times most dear.

I recollect moments of cheer and challenge, like a squirrel stuffing acorns in its cheeks. I question if I can hold another memory in heart, or if it’s time to put this batch down and again restart. In this inquiry, I can feel the season turning gentler. I rejoice in the space to collage inside myself, before the solstice gatherings, held in humans’ heart since they knew to speak it, bring us together around our celebrations of lights. Work and play, friends and family, or in solitude with our ancestors, we join some wave at height, ready to break upon the new year. Some wave of wishes, handed down in joy, willing us to integrate the year in cheer.

Life around packing in, bundling up, and going to ground, also hands me this present. From the simple walk in that tucked away comfy sock, to the sleeping somber yet stoic trees, to the slipping on the slick of sidewalk leaves, to the rushing by of cardinal’s red wing, I hear great nature’s great sigh. Not downtrodden or dejected with the turning of the tide, rather a beautiful acceptance. A trust in the fruits, fallen and fresh, to carry us through. The breath of the year always moves me so -- gathered of air, now free to let go. So, I go about this time in rhyme, collecting scattered things, both inside and out, listening deep to their sound, and knitting them together -- a gathering.