Autumn makes me blush, sigh, ruminate, linger, sit under trees even more than usual, and stare at the thick wafts of clouds until time effaces.

It makes my skin tingle, alights my movements, and sets my passions on fire.

It can deeply unsettle me, too, but mostly it calms my heart and soothes every last cell of my being.

With this persistent sense of wonder, bordering on fever, the urge to create and express grows ever-strong. I do my best to fall into meditative and (self) observational states.

I wanted to share some photos I took during some much-needed, green respites in some of the more breathtaking parts of my current home of Japan (I still have so much more to see), along with some haiku I’ve written inspired by Autumn.

Japan has many astounding qualities I’m only beginning to grasp; one that touches me deeply is how attuned the people are to the cycles and rhythms of the seasons, and to the small extent some of this has become engrained in me, I’m so grateful.

Enjoy!

Winter never far
I follow the sun falling,
Heart never-ending.

Leaves move in silence
Sun hits the skin with hardly
A breath between us.

Dawn breath, short gasps, and
A remembrance: dreams come
In yellow flashes.

I miss being in a
Land where I understand the
Dreams of its people.

I have waited all
These years for this red morning:
A new leaf holding.

On a drizzly night
Mist-struck, one solitary
Cry out: our human plight.

It takes so little
A wilted lion leaf, red,
Near the Zen garden.

Soft embers flowing
I can smell her orange dream
Carried by the wind.

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Editor: Emma Ruffin

Photos: Author’s Own