Day 16,345: Shedding Season

It is shedding season again
For the grand Sycamore that protectively
Embraces our home
She is releasing generous sheets
Of her weathered skin
Much the way that our own
Peels away a week after
A painful summer sunburn
Her annual undoing has begun
In these weeks before
The great autumnal unburdening
All without effort
Without shame or remorse
So that on a rare bright day
In the bowels of winter
She can thrust her
Bone-white limbs into
The turquoise sky
For breath-catching
For hope-giving
For the reminder that
There is beauty in the decay
And that the great wheel
Which we are on and of
Never stops turning
Renewal and rebirth
In whatever way it is needed
Is always close
At hand