My Autumn

AUTUMN

It's autumn time inside me, as I feel.
It's cool and lucid, and I see quite clearly, 
although I'm sad, I am not despaired, really, 
and I am filled with patience and good will.

And if, at times, I do get wild indeed, 
I do it when I fade and leave my foliage, 
and then I come to sad and simple knowledge
that rage and rampage isn't what we need.

But what we really need is just a chance 
to see the raging world and our own selves
in all the bareness of autumn spells, 
when we can see all through, at once.

Enlightenment is the child of peace and calm.
So never mind if we don't rage and riot.
We'd better shuffle off all wrangles and keep quiet
in order that we see new foliage come.

Something has happened to me, for I trust
and I rely exclusively on silence
where leaves pile on the ground, tired of violence, 
and turn, inaudibly, to earth and dust.

Then you see all, like from a mountain bed, 
when you can dropp your foliage duly, 
and when your inner autumn gently, coolly, 
will put its airy palpi on your head.

--Yevegeny Yevtushenko

Yes, it is true.  I am in my Autumn.

From my hike up Mt. Olympus this week.  The mountains:  A temple to my soul.