Pondering in Goldengrove

to a young child

Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves, like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By & by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you will weep & know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrow's springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

--Gerard Manley Hopkins

     I was reminded of this poem when my daughter recently teared up while we were driving to her school one morning. We were discussing the fact that autumn is coming on soon . When I asked her what was the matter, at first she said she didn't know but then admitted that although she likes fall, it always makes her feel a little sad, "like things are coming to an end." I have always loved fall with its myriad colors and the satisfying crunch of dry leaves underfoot, the scent of woodsmoke in the air, the energizing nip in the temperature, but I can certainly relate to that melancholic feeling she expressed. Winter is not my favorite season, though moving to the warmer climate of North Carolina has alleviated my winter blues to quite an extent. My many winters spent in New York State brought me to a point where I felt a heavy dread begin to grow inside when the first snowflakes flew in autumn. How delightful it was to discover daffodils beginning to sprout in January and bloom in February the first spring I lived down south. Even after sixteen springs here, I am still amazed to see those green shoots poking out of the ground so early in the year.
     Part of the reason I began this blog was the feeling Hopkins expressed so eloquently above: the sense of time's passage, of mortality, of the realization that life is fleeting. The somewhat overused expression "carpe diem" comes to mind. I look at the picture below of my children from two autumns ago and already they have grown so much, changed so much. My mind is set on making a conscious effort to make the most of each day, to create memories with my family,  and cease the mindless hurtle through the days, the months, the years. As the air begins to chill and the autumn colors begin their subtle, yet eye-catching creep across the green of youthful leaves, I choose to live in the now, enjoying each moment I am given on this beautiful earth with my beautiful family and friends. Here's to a spectacular autumn!