AN ODE TO AUTUMN
After the vibrance of summer, a season brimming with outdoor activities and the business of bringing in the harvest, Autumn brings with her a quiet peacefulness.
All around us Mother Nature is gently preparing for Winter. The bright summer heat escapes to the other side of the world and the weather starts to cool down. Some trees are still “laden with fruit ready to be picked, the granaries are stocked”, and best of all, the beauty of leaves turning gold, red and brown.
Autumn lends herself to quiet contemplation, taking a breath to reflect and maybe evaluate? Many poets liken Autumn to a season of life where we mature and really come into ourselves as a person. At this stage of our life, we have lived through experiences of joy, achievement, and heartache. We can reflect on how we grew through our mistakes and perhaps how we can mentor others. Best of all, there is enough time and energy to tackle new adventures and challenges. We count our many blessings and know: God is good.
What is it about this season that inspires poetry?
In his poem “To Autumn”, which is probably the most famous poem in the English language about Autumn, we read these beguiling introductory lines from John Keats:
Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o’er-brimm’d
Their clammy cells.
Keats contemplating on Autumn, is joined by poets like T.E. Hulme (Autumn), Yeats (When you are old), Emily Brontë (Fall leaves fall), P.B. Shelly (Ode to the West Wind), W. H. Auden (Autumn Song), and Shakespeare in his Sonnet 73 (That time of year thou mayst in me behold…).
Beautiful Autumn-songs include: “Autumn in New York” (Ella Fitzgerald), “Autumn Leaves” (Nat King Cole) and so many more. Along with “Autumn Leaves”, my other favourite is wonderfully interpreted by Nana Mouskouri:
Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow…
(September being part of Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere.)
I remember with nostalgia the graceful Autumn music from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. My two daughters Alize and Leanne took ballet classes when they were in Primary School. At one stage, Leanne and Aurelia, a class mate, had to dance for a ballet show. Together the four of us were inspired by Vivaldi’s music to choreograph complementary dance movements and costumes. They performed so well that they earned a gold award. What a proud moment that was!
The harvest of Afrikaans “Herfsgedigte” is not as plentiful as in English, but our language is so much younger than English and I am looking forward to discovering more. (#Diana Ferris?)
Daar ís nuwe gedigte soos “Die Herfshuis” van Carina Stander, “Herfs” van Johan de Lange, “Laaste dae van Herfs” deur Cas Vos en natuurlik die ou gunstelinge: “Herfs” van D. J. Opperman en die meesterwerk “Vroegherfs” van N.P. van Wyk Louw:
Die jaar word ryp in goue akkerblare
in wingerd wat verbruin, en witter lug
wat daglank van die nuwe wind en klare
son deurspoel word; elke blom word vrug,
tot selfs die traagstes; en die eerste blare val
so stilweg in die rookvaal bos en laan …
“In die sestet (Reëls 9 -14) word die stropingsproses verder beskryf sodat alles ‘witter’ en ‘naak’ gelaat is. Die spreker bid dat alle sierrade, oorbodighede en oppervlakkighede soos blare van die bome van ons afgestroop moet word sodat net dit wat gelouter is, met die wesenlike, oorbly.”
O Heer, laat hierdie dae Heilig word:
Laat alles val wat pronk en sierraad was
of enkeljeug, en vér was van die pyn,
laat ryp word, Heer, laat U wind waai, laat stort
my waan, tot al die hoogheid eindelik vas
en nakend uit my teerder jeug verskyn.
Terwyl dit Lente is gedurende die Paastyd in die Noordelike Halfrond, voel dit vir my soveel meer gepas dat Pase by ons in die Suide gedurende die Herfs is. Die reflektiewe gees van die seisoen is gepas om Lydenstyd en Jesus se kruisiging te herdenk. Selfs die belofte van die ewige lewe wat Jesus se opstanding ons gee, is gepas omdat die belofte van nuwe lewe na die herfs en winter ook in die natuur voor kom.
Watter een ook-al jou geliefde seisoen is, ek hoop jy geniet die herfs met al haar unieke gawes.
Wense vir ‘n vreedsame Paasfees tot ons weer gesels.
Shirley Rose
Bronne: Pictures: Pinterest; www.thoughtco.com; Dr Oliver Teale: 10 Classic Autumn Poems Everyone Should Read; www.panmacmillan.com; www.litnet.co.za; Vos, C.J.A.& Wepener C.J, 2013, “Liturgie en Letterkunde – ‘n “Herfs-liturgie vir Paasfees in die Suidelike Halfrond, Verbum et Ecclesia 34(1) Art.# 801