On my morning walks which sometimes become early afternoon depending on the temperature, I see barren brown branches but here and there some pods of sorts add a glimmer of left over red or burnt umber. The photos remind me of a poem I'd memorized in childhood by Robert Louis Stevenson, about burning leaves in fall. That was back when we did such things as memorize poems, considered inappropriate today the age of Cyber computers and supposedly a different, some would say superior style of education. I still believe we gained mental skills by memorizing and the poetry has stayed with me my entire life.
We sang or shouted this and other verses to jump rope and to count out time so others could hide when we played hide and seek. We entertained ourselves and would never have imagined today's world where children exercise only their thumbs on electronics, not their imaginations.... Here's the poem although I do not recall its title I remember the words and the last line which was my favorite...yes we had bonfires....
In the other gardens and all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires see the smoke trail.
Pleasant summer over and all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes the grey smoke towers.
Sing a song of seasons!
Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer, fires in the fall!
Someone unseen along that bank has tossed a pebble into the shimmery mirror of water or maybe there is a frog near or a bird has just dipped in. What do you think....
