most of the trees are yellow today - i watched a small tree shedding most of its leaves in a single gust of wind... the sight of leaves falling does not sadden me: it reassures, perhaps because autumn reminds me of the continuity of all the seasons and the completeness of life... or because i was born in october and its welsh name, hydref, is also the name for autumn... all these things connect...
...and, as i wrote that, i noticed a ladybird crawling slowly along the bench beside me... and now it has gone... i dont remember seeing one in november before...
...some birds that i do not recognise* are crying so very loudly and sharply, or shriekingly, for several minutes... i imagine their cries are at home in a tropical forest but here under a cool grey sky and in a cage they seem to speak only of displeasure, sadness and imprisonment...
*(Red-legged Seriema, a wading bird in an enclosure)
on the way back i paused to look at three birch trees planted in a lawn at the corners of a triangle... each tree has lost nearly all its leaves and each branch is almost entirely white... they remind me of the trees in the religious paintings by Piero Della Francesco in which everything looks artificial, and very still, and of unstated significance, and meaning...
...and then the distant rain reached the heath and i walked to a bus stop.
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