Autumn Beatitudes

I am happy with the leaves.

Let them fall

And let them be.

Let there be no stench of burning,

No dissonant noise of leaf blowers,

But let them rest on the ground

Covering a thousand footsteps of summer.

I am happy with beans.

Dried beans in the pantry

Assure me that there is bounty in the earth

And that the world is latent with possibilities.

I am happy with the way they swirl about 

in the rinsing bowl

Like hundreds of prayers 

On unstrung rosary beads.

If ever I am unsure of what to do next,

I can always cook beans.

I am happy with the sharp clear angular slant

Of the afternoon sunlight,

Reminding me that there comes a time

To slow down.

A time to not think.

A time to settle

Like autumn leaves on the ground.

Like beans in the bottom of the rinsing bowl.

- Charles Kinnaird