The Wind

There will be no photo to accompany this post. How can I capture the wind on film? Short of showing a tornado in the background, the inverted umbrella of a pedestrian or a rack of waves assaulting the shore it is impossible. The wind is invisible and yet its effects on those subjected to its whims can be devastating. What power!

Yesterday, after our balmy morning, the winds reached 30 miles an hour at dusk. If anything can convince the leaves to fall, it is such a wind and yet, many still stubbornly cling. Not just the oak, which can always be counted on as holding a tight fist on its own, but the Norway Maples, the burning bush, the lindens and some beech have yet to give up on summer.

I feel that way too and yet I know, as do these sylvan companions, that the seasons must change. That time must march forward. That schedules and responsibilities must be kept.

Still, like the sparrows that chirp outside my window--invisible for the leaves still clinging, I am happy to have just one more day here. One more moment to fortify myself for what I cannot see but what must eventually come.