art

A Love Affair With Autumn.

{Artwork by Ellen Brenneman}

{Artwork by Ellen Brenneman}

“… And all the leaves on the trees are falling

To the sound of the breezes that blow

and I’m trying to please to the calling

Of your heartstrings that play soft and low…” ~ Van Morrison

I’m experiencing a love affair with autumn. It’s a welcomed rendezvous as sepia tones fill the morning air.

It’s an exciting, baffling, intensely transitional space where one season isn’t fully over and the next hasn’t taken place.

I am suspended between a perpetual twilight and dawn.

I sail the dark skies by the light of the moon, and by day, linger in the cumulus clouds. I am relentlessly consumed by the ever-astonishing horizon. It is painted in a palette of sherbet-like hues.

As the nights grow crisp and the air is a splash of freshness, something inside of me wants to savor the art of folding inwards. The intrigue of this alluring state is incredibly stirring. To check my reality, I blink to make sure I can find a way to match the pause and rhapsody.

It is in this space between the tail end of one season and the next,I feel cast in a spell. I am much like the clouds — perpetually changing, shifting and drifting. This can feel overwhelming to a point of a physical ache.

I need to find balance in it all.

Grounding is imminent, and so I walk to anchor my feet. Roll out my mat and stretch through the knotted chords, and meditate to see.

I cherish small respites and daydream to the beat of my tender sensitivity. The stream of insights are startling, welcomed and vivid. I feel swells of creativity as I wear the clouds to cushion my pores.

My words start falling from my heart like the leaves.

I crave quiet softness. It helps to integrate into this seasonal exchange.

Intimately we dance an exotic tango. The autumn music is subtle. A liquidity transfusion. It is more of a jazzy-blues and a cozy allure. I can see a fire burning just through a slightly opened door.

This mixed emotional state is a paradox, and yet, I welcome autumn. I love to love as much as I need autumn’s transition.

It is here that I can naturally press Pause and restore.

***

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Carolyn Riker

Carolyn Riker

Carolyn Riker, M.A., LMHC, is a counselor, teacher, writer and poet. She currently writes for several online journals such as Women’s Spiritual Poetry blog and formerly Elephant Journal. A collection of her work is on her blog, Magic of Stardust and Words. Her poetry and prose have been featured in three books. Between sips of coffee and navigating life via the stars and moon, Carolyn leads journal-writing workshops and has a private counseling practice. Additionally, she’s in the process of completing her first collection of poetry and prose, available in the fall of 2016. Followed with a bit of magic, there's a children’s book too.
Carolyn Riker
Carolyn Riker