Senescent (adjective)
- growing old; aging.
- Cell Biology. (of a cell) no longer capable of dividing but still alive and metabolically active.
As in: trees laughing leaves, dropping down on me, floating in the wind.
I catch a handful of laughter, toss it back in the air.
As in: the hidden beauty in growing old, in death, revealed and witnessed through vibrant colors of burnt orange, flaming scarlet, deep gold.
I see the lines of mirth and hues of grace in an aging autumn.
As in: the beauty of letting go, surrender, the tree succumbing to the cold of winter without its luscious wrap of leaves.
The tree, another year older, yields to the process of time and change. I, too, am another year older, passing through another autumn, counting the number of autumns remaining.
As in: watching youthful green disappear as quickly as it came.
I soon will see the tree, standing in the middle of winter like a stark, bare skeleton with spindly limbs. Only leaves have died; it remains alive and breathing, waiting for its time to bloom again.
© prasanta – October 2018
(all photos from unsplash)