22/09/2026
Autumn Psalm of Fearlessness
by Edward Hays
"I am surrounded by a peaceful ebbing,
As creation bows to the mystery of life;
All that grows and lives must give up life,
Yet it does not really die.
As plants surrender their life,
bending, brown, and wrinkled,
and yellow leaves of tree
float to my lawn like parachute troops,
they do so in a sea of serenity.
I hear no fearful cries from creation,
no screams of terror,
as death daily devours
once-green and growing life.
Peaceful and calm is autumn’s swan song,
for she understands
that hidden in winter’s death-grip
is spring’s openhanded,
full-brimmed breath of life.
It is not a death rattle that sounds
over fields and backyard fences;
rather I hear a lullaby
softly swaying upon the autumn wind.
Sleep in peace, all that lives;
slumber secure; all that is dying,
for in every fall there is rise
whose sister’s name is spring."
