A tree clothed in half green, half orange. Morning sun is muted yellow, as leaves start to fall on field of green and purple wild flowers. The colors of September are myriad and signals the changing season from long summer days to cooler afternoons. The sunsets are coming earlier, instead of 9pm, often bringing rains at night. Amidst faded summer petals, my hardy roses are blooming anew, as if on the second spring. And all because of the evening rain.
At the home front, I am almost 1/3 empty nest. Though my youngest is starting university tomorrow, she will be staying home as we live at the border of Toronto City. She has new laptop, bags, shoes and clothes. Though she revels in her new surroundings, she is not ready to live on her own, unlike her two older brothers. She loves the comforts of home cooked meals and nice room. I am mindful to keep a balance - giving her independence, while widening her boundaries.
fallen green apples
litter the rain-soaked ground-
grey-tailed birds perch, swishing-
Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Haibun Monday hosted by Kanzensakura ~ Please join us when the pub doors open at 3pm ~
You have captured so much change... not only in nature but also in the end and new beginnings... would love some apples, but we have a very bad year for apples.
ReplyDeleteOh those fallen green apples! The deer around here snap up any of the fallen apples and from the trees unless one has an orchard or a tree in the city. I could hardly wait to leave home and set off to university. I loved my family but I loved my independence more
ReplyDeleteIt must be lovely to have an apple tree and what beautiful colours in those leaves. A lovely haibun to the end of summer.
ReplyDeleteI love your season between the seasons - and the echo of it in your daughter, in that space between childhood and adulthood. How sensitively you perceive it.
ReplyDeleteThe passing of time is marked here so beautifully and with your sensitive and delicate hand.
ReplyDeleteThe grey-tailed bird swishing - perfect. The fledgling ready to leave the nest.
ReplyDeleteTime sure does march on. Hope she has a good first day. Hey, stay home and don't pay rent. Win! lol
ReplyDeleteSuch a colourful haibun. Grace, with a happy opening paragraph, which becomes wistful and thoughtful in the second one. It must be lovely to have your daughter staying at home. You can still be part of her life while she finds her feet at university and becomes an independent woman. The birds and apples fit perfectly.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful mirror in the season's subtle changes, your daughter preparing for university and the green apples falling close to the tree xxx
ReplyDeleteMy last to leave the nest will become a grandmother this October! How time flies. Your haibun and haiku are a lovely venture into autumn!
ReplyDeleteAutumn brings with it the sadness of the end of summer. However it brings also the start of a new life, an independence for our children as they leave the nest and enter adulthood. For them - a time of a new beginning.
ReplyDeleteAnna :o]
this is beautiful Grace, and you also used 'apple' in your haiku as did i:) Sounds like the beginning of Fall to me.
ReplyDeleteTHINKING AHEAD
ReplyDeleteWhere apples gladly will be found
the leaves are falling to the ground.
The leaf you cannot eat, you know.
But fallen fruit will in it grow.
Absolutely charming. You took me away when you brought this home and shared about your youngest starting university.
ReplyDeleteOh! so sweet, changing season and a changing life............
ReplyDeleteLove the juxtaposition here of changing seasons/changing experiences, and the largely unspoken change for you as well. Nice!
ReplyDeleteLove this! The tree is half-ready for fall and you daughter is half-ready for independence. Beautiful imagery.
ReplyDeleteNew beginnings, can be exciting.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful details here. And having been a parent to my daughter who went to the University of Iowa in the town of Iowa City where we lived, I know the idea you are expressing here "I am mindful to keep a balance - giving her independence, while widening her boundaries." She was literally a walk away...we let her have her space and she thrived. You are a wise parent indeed.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful account of this time of year. I always remember starting a new school year in September and today being downtown in a University town (Kingston) and seeing first year Queen's students in their orientation outfits took me back to my first year. A huge step for your daughter. I wish her well. Janice (Ontheland)
ReplyDeleteA lovely share. And the haiku is wonderful. Everything a haibun should be.
ReplyDeleteSeasons change for nature and our children... I'm hoping my senior will be living with us her freshman year of college if she decides to go to the University here in town.... we will see. Gorgeous ponderings :)
ReplyDeletethe in between well described in colors and in details. thank you for this delight, Grace!
ReplyDeleteI notice the change in the sun most of all. School does offer changes as well especially for the students starting something new and getting more independence.
ReplyDelete