Words to the wise, from the woods
Late October always tugs on my sleeve and insists that I slow down to take stock of the passing year. Despite the worries of the week, Mother Nature reminds me that life is all about cycles. Some seasons flow more easily than others, but I have reasons to be grateful for every one I’m given. Last week, on a walk through the woods, I looked across the ravine that dips down toward the river in St. Joe, and remembered this poem by Billy Collins:
Directions
The best time is late afternoon
when the sun strobes through
the columns of trees as you are hiking up,
and when you find an agreeable rock
to sit on, you will be able to see
the light pouring down into the woods
and breaking into the shapes and tones
of things, and you will hear nothing
but a sprig of birdsong or the leafy
falling of a cone or nut through the trees,
and if this is your day you might even
spot a hare or feel the wing-beats of geese
driving overhead toward some destination.
But it is hard to speak of these things —
how the voices of light enter the body
and begin to recite their stories;
how the earth holds us painfully against
its breast made of humus and brambles;
how we who will soon be gone regard
the entities that continue to return
greener than ever, spring water flowing
through a meadow and the shadows of clouds
passing over the hills and the ground
where we stand in the tremble of thought
taking the vast outside into ourselves.
—Billy Collins, excerpted from The Art of Drowning
Cindy La Ferle
Throughout my career, I've worked as a book production editor, travel magazine editor, features writer, and weekly newspaper columnist. My award-winning lifestyles features and essays have appeared in many national magazines and anthologies, including Newsweek, Reader's Digest, The Christian Science Monitor, Writer's Digest, Victoria, Better Homes & Gardens, Bella Grace, and more. My weekly Sunday "Life Lines" column ran for 14 years in The Daily Tribune (Royal Oak, MI) and won a First Place (Local Columns) award from the Michigan Press Association. My essay collection, Writing Home, includes 93 previously published columns and essays focusing on parenthood and family life.
9 Comments
momma
A wonderful and thought provoking poem Cindy. Thanks for printing it.
starrlife
Lovely, evocative…. be well Cindy.
Cafe Pasadena
I luv the Billy Collins excerpt. And your foto looks familiar to one of my own!
Cindy
Cafe — The photo was taken on our property, and that’s the St. Joseph River in the background. I need to come visit you soon!
Anne Osmer
Beautiful. I am at my sister’s cottage in Macatawa, looking out at Lake Michigan and the fall colors. The poem fit my experience well. I even took a short hike today! Thanks for sharing it.
joanna jenkins
Beautiful poem Cindy– It makes me a bit homesick for Ohio.
On another subject– I just saw “Ides of March” and thought of you. This was the George Clooney film you worked on right? Did you see yourself on screen?
xo jj
Cindy
Thank you, Joanna! And yes, that was one of the films I worked on, but I haven’t seen it yet. Doug and I were in one of the campaign scenes, near the stage — but not sure if we show up or not. We do show up in “Machine Gun Preacher” with Gerard Butler, which seems to be showing in the indie/art film theaters. Thanks for asking!
Sharon
This year especially I have heard people say that autumn is their favorite season. I think it’s due to many of the things in this poem ~ things easier to describe than to list.
We just saw “Ides of March” and thought it was great. I’m sorry I didn’t know to look for you.
deb
stunning.
I find autumn bittersweet but the light , oh the light…