Adrift Poem by Gerard Heathcote

Autumn is a bridge of sorrows
A duelled weapon in Gods Hand
We say goodbye to the suns warmth
And look forward to empty weeks
Of greyness mist and wind
The double edge sword of loss
The despair of nothing worth waiting for

But wait. In the moment of change
Stop still without thought of past loss
Or thought of a future unknown
What splendour we see in trees
Between green and empty twigs
The colours of change engage our senses
Of past perfection and future disaffection

This is where we are for all time
Feeling the change, the colours of autumn
But wait lets bate our breath
There is a moment too, within the change
The sudden breakage of the leaf’s anchor
The wind cradles the falling seesaw
Set adrift with destination unsure

Somewhere is a grounded state
A place of endings and sure footing
The leaf adrift in the unseen current
Controls not the speed nor the direction
The leaf does not fight the race
The end point somehow is unpredictable
And yet already decided in fateful embrace

Listen and hear the pain of silence
The leaf drifts autonomous in free fall
None to share the rhythm of its movement
A tour of blind alleys ending wishful hopes
Coming to rest, becalmed and nowhere
Then disturbed in a gust of good fortune
Charmed by a neighbours whisper

Onward the pathway with a fair breeze
Two leaves coalesce as one, somehow locked
In an embrace, dancing a lovers duet
God speed the journey’s ecstasy and joy
Alone but alone together as one, still adrift
But sharing the mystery of windswept bliss
On board to a meaningless destination

So what can we say about the journey
The windblown trace of events
The leaf's route to the earth’s crust
Is the experience of change worth the ride
Is the ride more important than the landing
The landing is love's total union of hearts
The journey is the pathway of acceptance