Musings on a fall day

An entry from my personal journal:

November 6

This afternoon, after lunch at the dormitory, I felt compelled to take a walk to the park. It was a lovely fall day and the temperature was just right. Perfect, really. The leaves were crunching with each step, as more leaves had fallen throughout the day. I wandered off the cement path, into the yellow and bronze colored leaves. I passed the head of a statue which likely commemorated October 23, the Hungarian Independence Day. As I passed, I saw a bench ahead; a bench surrounded by the stillness and beauty of the large leaves. 
I sat. 
I thought.
I read.
I listened.
I found creativity.
I found beauty.
I sat on the wooden bench, taking in the peacefulness of the world around me. "There is great value in stillness," I thought. "So often I miss the opportunities to be. To live. To listen." So I sat there, feeling content, allowing peace to fill my soul. 
I felt alive.
I felt loved.
And I wasn't doing a thing.

For the first time, in a very long time, I was inspired. It isn't that I haven't been inspired during the last few years, because I have- just not with this type of inspiration. The type that opens the "creativity pocket" in my brain and allows me to write freely, without judgement. As I dusted off the cobwebs, I was pleasantly surprised by the result. See below. 


[Poem without title]


The wind whispers to the trees,
quietly persuading them to let go of the leaves 
they so desperately want to keep.

The time comes when they can no longer hold their leaves tight, 
and they release.
They release without knowing, 
without realizing.
They cannot control it, 
and must give in to the peaceful voice that surrounds them.
Yet the trees are surprised,
not by the lifted weight,
but by the beauty.
The beauty which is now opened to the world;
that of one small, yellow leaf gently gliding to the ground, 
filled with others of its kind.
Its beauty makes the release seem easy,
and the trees find the courage to let go of more,
until they are free of weight.
They are light,
but not empty.

With time, 
the trees will be met with a new type of beauty,
One of confidence and growth.
It does not meet them immediately,
but they know, 
with patience,
it will arrive.

Without warning.

With grace,
with love,
and with new life.


© Aliyah Richling, November 2015