It's one of those days, where I have more pictures --of Fall, in Washington DC-- than words to share.
As the leaves change color and drop to the ground, the mind turns to mortality (how could it not?)
Which is why I thought to share with you this exchange, that I overheard while out taking a walk. Two teenage girls, nearly skipping in the rain behind me:
It must suck to grow old then die... and before that, lie on a table and have strangers feeding you... That's just weird - I don't wanna die like that. 'I turned around, smiling, and nodded as fellow mortal.
I was half tempted to turn around and ask them: how would you like to die? But, they're children, I thought, let them be... Time will teach them.
Meantime, in closing, I thought to share with you this meditation on Autumn by poet Rilke, translated by a friend of mine, Paul T. Hopper:
The leaves are falling, falling as from afar,
as if far-off gardens withered in the skies;
they’re falling with a gesture of denial.
And the heavy earth falls in the nights
toward loneliness away from every star.
We all are falling. This hand here drops.
And look at others: it’s in all of them.
And yet there is One who holds this falling
infinitely softly in His hands.