Change

The Days That Are No More

Oregon · USA

Festive impressionistic coloration belies the sobriety of autumnal decay as a big-leaf maple succumbs to the turn of season. A few senescent yellow leaves still cling stubbornly to branches flocked with vibrant green cat-tail moss (Isothecium myosuroides) and strung with epiphytic mint-green witch’s hair lichen (Alectoria sarmentosum). But even as the cold season deepens, the promise of new life bows its twigs as bunches and bunches of winged auburn seeds known as samaras prepare to break free, disperse, and eventually germinate after the cold of winter passes. Perhaps had Alfred, Lord Tennyson been blessed by the presence of such an intricately adorned tree in Tintern Abbey, he might have felt compelled to close his famous poem in considerably more uplifting fashion…

O life in death, the days that are yet to be.