Autumn Leaves

It’s autumn. Leaves are falling from trees in our garden. I’ve cleared them several times. It’s an ongoing, continuing task at this time of year.

At our ‘Singing for Wellbeing’ group yesterday we sung ‘Autumn Leaves’. People in the autumn of their lives singing about autumn:

The falling leaves
Drift by the window
The autumn leaves
Of red and gold

Autumn is a period of transition. The light, warmth and energy of summer are all changing…

Eva Cassidy introduced me to ‘Autumn Leaves’ on her Songbird album, that sold five million copies worldwide. Sadly she never knew of her success. Diagnosed with cancer in 1993 she died of cancer in 1996, aged just 33. This could have been about Eva Cassidy herself… moving from her summer through autumn to winter very quickly:

Since you went away
The days grow long
And soon I’ll hear
Old winter’s song

It’s a song of love and loss…

It’s ‘baby loss awareness week’. I’ve read about the charities supporting families coping with grief… miscarriages, terminations, ectopic pregnancies, the stigma surrounding baby loss… the availability and value of baby loss certificates.

The energy of pregnancy, potential, love and summer life becomes falling autumn leaves, and the quiet solitude of winter:

But I miss you most of all, my darling
When autumn leaves
Start to fall.

A number of friends are going through autumn seasons in their lives. Unresolved family situations and health concerns, personal problems, painful bereavement. Their colours of life are changing. Days are shortening, the temperature’s dropping there’s more darkness. Life, growth and joy won’t be the same. Their autumn leaves are falling.

My faith reassures me with St Paul’s words: ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.’

In the loss of love, darker days, falling autumn leaves, there is hope. Somewhere, somehow, although ‘old winter’s song’ may be inevitable, a good loving God is at work. Falling autumn leaves can’t be retrieved, but new green spring leaves will come.