Walk in the Woods

Join me in this poem and in this video link for a walk through the woods that I loved during my growing up years. Writing the poem, capturing the place in a video walk, and assembling that into a music video has helped me find my footing in a new role in life. 

This newness came mixed with sadness, as my siblings and I said goodbyes to beloved parents, and then to the family home. Time does not stand still does it?

The movement from one generation to the next, as new patriarchs and matriarchs in a family rise up, will come to all of us. May what I share here help you to reflect in a thoughtful way about your own place in this movement of family generations through time.

It is the end of an era

The beginning of a new way 

Of being in the world,

Time to be family heads now rather than look to parents

As the role models of stability and wisdom.

Even with a fist full of decades in one’s repertoire

This duty beckons with surprise

As footsteps hesitate to

Mount up with wings as eagles,

To walk and not be weary

For the challenges ahead.

And so I take a good-bye walk

Around beloved space,

Listening to the wind and leaves

While adding my own voice in prayers

Of thankfulness for such a richness

In legacy, 

Highlighted by the riotous colors of the

Fall woodland, decked in

Flutters of golden and red whispers.

We are not alone in this world.

The spirit of our loved ones

Salted the earth in their own times,

Paving the way for those who follow.

The Spirit of God ties us with them

In memory, in beauty, in hope of reunion.

The fall woodland reminds all that

Each era of our days on earth

Is spread out in time with

Masterful skill by the Designer

Of changing seasons; springtime, summer, fall.

His intricate weaving of life with life,

Soul with soul, days scattered,

Hours diffused with mundane or majestic centers,

All part of His score for the world.

Our part, however lovely, long, or little,

Is to play note by note, minute by minute,

Breath by breath, the song that

The Composer of our souls

Gives us in love and time.

Bless my frailness, 

My leapings into this or that, Lord.

Help me to play Your music well.

May this arc, the end of summer,

The stepping into the autumn of my life,

This third movement of a life symphony

Be rich and bold with grace,

Celebrating the harvest of life 

That has seen goodness from Your hand,

Taking up each ripe fruit, 

Using it for goodness sake.

Prepare me, Lord, in all these glorious days

For the walk with dignity into the next movement

When the cadence of my Fall is complete,

And the quietness of my Winter breathes

Frost-like on another chapter toward life’s end.

With echoes of golden leaves hindering sadness,

May the boots and mittens of winter

Not inhibit the song,

Hummed softly during long nights

Or bellowed joyfully when

Crystalline flakes dance with delight

Windowing clearly the bluster and beauty

In all of life’s days.


Here are photos from that walk . . . 

MUSIC LINK

A Walk in the Woods - piano solo from my archives on "Faith of Our Fathers" with video from the woods at Spring Hill Farm