Autumn came

I thought I didn’t want summer to end, 

Until it crept back in again.

Then I longed for the crispness and light

Of autumn time, it was so bright 

With its crinkling leaves and browning hue,

And fluffy clouds hanging in the sky.

I wondered how the caterpillar might know when

it should transform into a butterfly?

Or the deciduous trees, are they told too 

When to let go of their summer leaves?

Perhaps there’s a whisper that now is the time.

Maybe there’s a spark, a certain sign.

Whatever it is it, it forgot to tell summer this year

Or perhaps summer held on

Rebelled, didn’t want to let go, savouring its moment,

One final show.

Is this what we do. Hold on, let go, hold on again,

Don’t know, wide open space. 

It’s time now though, for the change that comes

When summer lets go of the sun.

Then the earth can breathe her sigh of relief 

And settle into her deepest sleep,

And all around will follow her lead as if the magic

of rest has been cast, twinkling, over the fields

Will we rest too when autumn comes, shut down,

Close in, restore ourselves?

This morning light talks of autumn again, there’s

No going back now, we must let go into it. 

A poem about Mother Earth and Love

Once upon a time

There was a beautiful planet

With bright blue skies

And bright blue seas

Tall crisp mountains and 

A whole heap of deep green

Forests

Stunning rivers and the

Most awe inspiring

Lakes.

This was a world of joy

And magic and ancient wisdom.

Then man arrived and tried

To tame the planet.

He cluttered her skies and 

Clogged her seas with plastic.

He conquered the mountains

Leaving his debris

And he stripped her bare

Of forest.

He manipulated

The rivers and lakes

As he tried to exert his control

On the beautiful planet.

Love is all the planet knows, and 

She was keen for man to know love too.

She did what she could to get his attention

To make him recognise

The love and the beauty that 

Lay within him; the mirror.

But it was too late by then.

He was already too distracted by

The idea of controlling things.

He needed to understand,

To dissect and to make sense. 

He wanted to know so that he

Could better control.

The planet knows that man 

Can never truly understand her

and know her as well as she knows 

Herself. That she cannot be controlled.

That she is filled with magic and grace

And beauty that knows no boundaries, 

That cannot be defined, collected,

Analysed. That cannot be controlled.

This is freedom and this is all she knows.

The freedom that comes with a life

Lived on love.

So she tries to show man what he is missing.

Her beauty and in springtime too,

When she is abundant in fertility, and all

Of her is awash with new beginnings, 

Potent with energy and potential.

That she has a rhythm, and that if

Man allows himself to flow with her rhythm

That he too will be nourished and

energised, and spellbound.

That he will recognise that all this time

He has been seeking to control

What is actually inside himself;

The wildness that makes him feel alive

If he turns towards it rather than

Trying to control or deny it.

So the planet gently shows him,

Guides him, with love, for remember

This is all she knows. 

To rewild the men and make them see

All that they have missed inside of 

Themselves, in their quest to 

Control all things, to make them feel

Safe and secure within the world

They live in, yet not appreciating

That they can never control

That which can never be truly known.

For one can never dissect nor analyse

Nor truly understand grace and ancient wisdom.

Just as intuition and the heart can never

Be truly known either, not really. 

For the great mystery knows no boundaries,

It cannot be limited, nor defined in

Black and white, nor used to control or

Exploit.

Is has its own truth. And truth will

Always have a way of expressing itself, of finding a way

To be all it can be, for living its potential

Just as planet earth also lives her truth.

She will shake her very foundation to know

Herself over and over again

To drop deeper into her heart

And realise yet more of her potential

As part of the whole, of the vast inter-connected

Nature of the universe.

She awakens us in her shaking

To remember the fullness of who we are

And our own potential.

To remind us that we are simply

A reflection of her. That as we allow her to 

Wild again, so we can wild ourselves

And be comfortable with the

Not knowing and appreciate instead

The sheer joy that comes with

Being with our true selves. 

That all that cannot be known is the blessing

And the magic that 

Makes us feel truly alive.

That love is enough and

Knows no bounds.

By Emma Després 2 April 2020

Wake up!

There are words I long

to say, to anyone

who might listen.

To awaken the

sleeping, heads buried

in a layer of

ignorance.

There are people

dying and children crying

and mothers

being

separated from

their young.

Do we pretend

it’s OK. Head down.

Get on. Someone

else’s problem.

Someone else’s

life.

I’m pretty sick of it, if I’m honest,

of greed, and the desire for fame,

as if this demonstrates

the success of a human being.

Show me your soul

that’s all I want to see of you.

Naked. Honest.

Truthful.

Ditch the show, please,

for the sake of humanity.

This isn’t a game (get off

the screen, get outside. Breathe), this

is for real. They’re dying

while you’re lying with

your head in denial.

A poem by Emma Després