Burning Into Becoming
Burning Into Becoming
The maple lifts its leaves
to the late sun,
green veins clinging
while the edges
flare with red.
Not a fading,
but an arrival—
each leaf a lantern,
burning through
its last breath of summer.
It is not decline
so much as evolution—
an entering into the next phase
with vibrancy.
To transform
requires letting go,
allowing part of the old self
to fall away.
Some pieces must be shed
for the whole to move forward.
The maple does this boldly.
No hesitation,
no half-measures.
It blazes
before the fall,
a fiery demonstration of courage,
a lesson for the quiet hearts
willing to listen—
that even in release
there can be radiance,
that to go well
is to go with brilliance,
that falling
can be another way
of becoming.