Raking

What a beautiful day to be raking fallen leaves
on the last day of October in the sunny breeze.
Underneath my feet the golden leaves crunch
because the leaves are brittle to the touch.
In various shades of gold
waiting to be raked up and then rolled
in the wheelbarrow to put the gardens to bed.
Each year there are more leaves to disperse in these beds.

Two leaf rakes are used as clam shells
loading leaves into the wheelbarrow.
Trucking back and forth mile after mile,
these decaying leaves will give the beds style.
Raking rustles the fallen leaves,
while a breeze will rearrange the leaves.
Crunching underfoot turns these leave to mulch.
An autumn song that mimics:  crunch, crunch, crunch.

Every year the oldest trees leaves fall down to the ground first.
It seems to me as though the younger trees drop their leaves last.
Therefore the raking season is long.
Right up until Thanksgiving comes.
There's a blue jay perched high in the tree
as if he is watching over me.
Perhaps because his sunflowers are gone
he no longer entertains me with a song.

My neighbor's tabby cat visits
just for a minute
than scats
reals fast.
Contrails are seen in the blue sky.
As the sun goes down, dusk is nigh.
The garden slumbers
come November.

* * * * *

At the end of summer the garden changes
when fall deposits frost and rearranges.
The leaves begin their tumble down, summer's flowers are gone,
once again the vegetable garden is barren.

The end of something once familiar to you
is also the beginning of something new.
Consider the metamorphosis of the butterfly.
Change can produce something beautiful by and by.

To the caterpillar change is inescapable.
Would it want to change back into a caterpillar?
Its transformation sets it free.
Free to delight you and me.

When change happens to you, look at it as an adventure.
Adventures are filled with excitement and fear - a mixture.
Remember you are never alone.
There is always One who goes along.

The Lord is with you to provide
when in Him you daily abide.
To the Lord your fears confide,
then enjoy your exciting ride.

For all of life is an adventure, it's true -
introduced when change brings something new.
Since no one knows what today or tomorrow might bring,
look at each change as a new adventure taking wing.

Change is a normal undertaking.
A new chapter in the making.
As seasons testify when they yearly come,
change eventually comes to everyone.

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way.
Isaiah 43:18-19