Pieces of Her Heart

I'm linking up today to the Reflection of You blog with their weekly prompt "5 on Friday", which simply put is to post 5 of whatever floats your boat...what could be better than that? Since I have so many fall photos I thought I'd post some more - there are too many to count this year and I hate the thought that so many of them won't be shared. So here are five more autumnal country landscape images I've captured in the last couple of weeks. There's something so serene and calming about this set of country fields and sloping hills...something melancholy, too, which might be more my own mood as I say goodbye to fall. The bare trees are a reminder that the bleak winter is approaching...they always remind me of majestic, maternal beings standing strong while also mourning the loss of their "little ones", those beautiful vibrant leaves that have decided to let go and take their own journey. I'm sharing a poem below I wrote about this. I hope everyone has a great weekend - thanks for stopping by!

GRACE

As autumn swells with meaning
Unfolding its languid spell
The tree unloads her glory
Flaming leaf souls falling
Cascading in a tremulous light
Glowing with tangy innocence
Coming undone against earth's skin
While bees drift in a quiet vigil
Fading with the summer
Like a comforting dream
Coming to an end

And the tree fasts over them
Her ribcage heavy with wish rings
A majestic mother fretting
For her beloved children
Her bone structure revealed
By the gaunt, gray smile of winter
Cradling them with care
Soothing them in the shuffling wind
Yearning to save these pieces of her heart
Her bare limbs praying skywards
Beseeching, ragged in the ripe air.

© Sherri Brannon