Falling (Death of a Tree)

When I bought this house, one of the photos that the realtor showed me was of the red maple tree in bloom in the backyard. The picture was nice, but it was late November and all the leaves were down, so it was pretty hard to imagine what it would really be like.

I'm here to say it really, truly is magnificent, and worth every bit of yard work that it and its many tree friends in my much-bigger-than-at-my-old-house yard produce:

Here's the view from my living room window

Here's the tree in all its glory

When most of the leaves fell, they made a gorgeous ground cover...

But the tree, all ready for winter, is not nearly as photo-worthy!

I heard a beautiful song the other day that is nearly perfect for marking this day -- I say nearly because luckily, my tree isn't dead:

I'll awake to find your love
Falling like leaves to the ground
I'll awake to find your love, falling like leaves
You will look to find me down upon my knees

Without a sound
You will look to find me
Down upon my knees

I'm not sure I really understand this song, but it seems to speak to my experience in my last relationship. Although I didn't literally get down on my knees, I did hang it all out there, and even proposed at one point:

Then we can fling wide the gates
Let go the last of our hate then we can sigh
Like the cool clear wind up high through the sky above
Then we can say we're in love

And we did say we were in love, from the first weekend we spent together when the leaves were just beginning to change in the East:

Then we can rest mortal eyes
Laugh as we run out of temporal breath
Then we can move, we can sing, we can tremble
Like birds through the sky above
Then we can say we're in love

Yep, we were able to do all those things, and yet, our love, like the leaves of the red maple -- as majestic as it was -- eventually fell...