Life Death Life

[mfh]

Our Maple Tree

It is a popular tree in our little town.

A friend posted a picture of it on Facebook and

Jokingly said it was showing off.

Its brilliant reds and purples, oranges and yellows

Are breathtakingly beautiful.

I sit and watch its beauty as the sun

Highlights each leaf of this giant and as it

Shimmers in my front yard. How sacred it is.

Yesterday, however, a gentle breeze was stirring

Causing many of those leaves to fall to the earth.

Within minutes they began to dry up

Cut off from their source as they were.

One by one, there was less of my tree-

Less life, less beauty

It reminded me of watching you die day after day.

The winds of Alzheimer's sometimes slowly,

Too often quickly,

Took your leaves,

Your abilities and skills,

Your intuition and cognition, your very identity

Leaving a skeleton of who you were.

Still beautiful till the end

Still kind-you stood as the winds

Robbed you little by little

Until finally your body was forced to surrender

To the hurricane forces of death.

I know in another week that tree, too, will be

Just a skeleton, its branches bare until next spring.

The ground beneath deep with leaves

That have lost their shimmer, become crisp

And died, cut off from their source.

Were you reborn as my tree will be?

Did you birth a glorified body?

Are you shimmering in another dimension?

I watch this slow death in my yard

As I also take joy in its beauty, I know now that

all in life is bittersweet, life-death-life.

How well I remember your day by day losses

The pain of watching you lose each and every leaf,

As you, too, left this world.

How sad I am.

May you rest in peace, my love,

till we shimmer together...again.

mfriedelhunt©2011, October

Our neighbor's 48 hour old grandchild wearing a crown I made of our maple leaves. She seems ok with them.

[terp8r]

Beautiful!

[dave s]

Mary, really nicely done. Dave

[MartyT]

♥

[Queeniemary]

Thank you my friend. We have a beautiful cemetary in our town, called Maple Wood. I will try to get up there this week and post pictures, if the trees are at full color. The cemetary is filled with beautiful maple wood trees. My son and my parents, as well as many other friends and family members are resting there. Mike is in a Arizona Red Rock urn on my bookcase, as he never wanted to be buried. Some of his ashes are scattered occasionally. Just this past week, my friend Tom, who went on a fishing trip to Brazil on the Amazon, scattered some of Mike's ashes, along with some of Tom's wife Ann's ashes, and some dirt from the grave of our friend Dana's husband into a secluded part of a "finger" of the amazon. If I can make it work, I will attach the pictures Tom took of the area. Behind the tree in the middle, in the water is where the memories of our loved ones are scattered. However, getting back to the subject, I adore the beautiful maple woods as they change color, and your tree is beautiful.

Mary (Queeniemary) in Arkansas.

[mfh]

Dear Mary,

The photo is lovely and what a great thing to have it where ashes of Mike and your friends were spread. It resembles a pond near my house.

Yes, the maples are incredible. Today a friend came over and showed me how to make crowns out of the leaves. I plan to make one tonight for a friend as I am going to breakfast with a group for her birthday in the morning. They are pretty awesome...I will take a pic and post it. This time of the evening the colors are so deep and rich.

I feel like at 18 months I have hit a plateau that I can get off of. It is a roller coaster ride and I take a day at a time as that is what I can do.

Dave S

I am sorry I missed your call. I was in a local theater at a film festival. Glad things are going better for your dad. Great.

These autumn days remind me of the last road trip Bill and I took 2 years ago...his last ride in a car....hard days for me. Very hard.

Mary

[kayc]

I also spread George's ashes by a tree in our yard, a large stately fir. It is where we looked out on the back yard, the edge of the forest.

Your "crown of leaves" looks beautiful on this sweet baby!

[Dwaynecg]

Dear Mary,

That was very beautiful. It reminds me of Pauline, The very slow progress en of the MS, Taking away all the parts of her life, like the leaves falling from the tree. Then a big guest of wind came in and all that was in her was gone. Way to fast, If only the wind had not blown so hard, but, I did not want her to suffer the great pain she was in, and she did not want the pain anymore. So the strong wind that blew her life away, left me empty and alone, but I know that the tree will come back to live when the sun warms, the snow melts, the temperature rise again. The tree will show her beauty again in the spring, with beautiful blooms and new green leaves. Life goes on, never ending at all. Even if that great tree falls some day, its seeds will rise again to show off beauty in a new tree, that will, take the place of the fallen one.

God Bless, my friend

Dwayne

[mfh]

Dwayne and all,

The hurricane force winds (really just a normal windy day) took most of the leaves off our maple tree. Many also died overnight. Our yard is full of leaves, the tree looks very strange....short lived but longer than last year and brighter. Glad so many enjoyed the pictures...esp the newborn wearing a crown of nature.