Away in the Northern Hemisphere, the leaves are falling (I am reminded online) – leaves of gorgeous reds and yellows. In temperate Tasmania, where I grew up, sometimes, in some places, we saw such colours in Autumn, on trees introduced by the early European settlers. Here, now, in the sunny sub-tropics, my final settling-place, we seldom see anything but evergreens. I don’t mind that; I love the sun! And I love to be surrounded by all-year greenery, in this sweet rural town where trees line the roads and even the most urban streets.
In the Southern Hemisphere, we have Spring right now. One of the few deciduous tropical trees, the big frangipani that spreads all over the front wall of my home, has been starkly bare all winter (after its huge brown leaves littered the lawn; nothing pretty about them). Now it quietly begins to revive, putting forth tiny, spiky shoots at the end of a few branches. I look forward to the fragrant flowers which will come.
ageing, slowing
I watch the seasons renew –
how much longer?
Written for Haibun: "The Fall of the Leaf" at dVerse.
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