Autumn slammed into me today with forceful determination disrupting my restless inertia.  I could smell the familiar slightly sweet, fragrant aroma of slowly decaying leaves and crisp air.  Somehow, fall’s preparation for winter’s slumber awakens my senses, stirs my thoughts, and sharpens my awareness. Perhaps this is part of an instinctual human pattern of survival behavior; we are sharpened in preparation for the interminable, taxing days of winter.

I feel fall’s dull, damp and gray pressure upon my shoulders rather than crushing, railing me to push back, break through, and understand.  Autumn’s inspirations are unique in their forceful determinacy.  I desire to tune out life yet my senses betray me, direct me toward understanding my surroundings with lucid awareness and intuition.  Peering through the biting mist my gaze is drawn to the few surrounding treetops in my area.  I think about how late autumn is often a good time to plant deciduous trees while they lay dormant, deathlike facades outstretched, cultivating blindly what erupts during spring’s commanded resurgence.