October melancholy

October by Edward Thomas

The green elm with the one great bough of gold
Lets leaves into the grass slip, one by one,---
The short hill grass, the mushrooms small, milk-white,
Harebell and scabious and tormentil,
That blackberry and gorse, in dew and sun,
Bow down to; and the wind travels too light
To shake the fallen birch leaves from the fern;
The gossamers wander at their own will.
At heavier steps than birds' the squirrels scold.
The rich scene has grown fresh again and new
As Spring and to the touch is not more cool
Than it is warm to the gaze; and now I might
As happy be as earth is beautiful,
Were I some other or with earth could turn
In alternation of violet and rose,
Harebell and snowdrop, at their season due,
And gorse that has no time not to be gay.
But if this be not happiness,---who knows?
Some day I shall think this a happy day,
And this mood by the name of melancholy
Shall no more blackened and obscured be.

This poem sprang to mind after today's Tai chi practice.

October a somber month full of melancholy.

Days drawing in, the dark extending to encompass days as dire news and portents abound.

 Wicca - October is the approach to the season of Samhain  pronounced So-wain. - the end of summer when the worlds draw closer together. A time of dreary days and sorrowful tidings.

Death abounds and reaps at will.

One dear friend no longer celebrates Christmas it is forever overshadowed by the death of her husband. She is now the last of that generation of her family to be alive.

At Tai Chi there are people who are bereft or soon to be that way. Glenice has lost her sister, another person has lost her son. Today's tutor is going to a funeral to mark the passing of another Tai Chi instructor.
Instructor: Lee Davis-Conchie has lost his battle with leukaemia. Clive and some other Tai Chi tutors are going to represent Tai Chi Chen at Lee's funeral, to show respect, to support his widow, to celebrate the life of.an exponent of the art.
Today, after the training Clive went to see his mother. She's in palliative care. I.e. the train has been set in motion for her exit from this world.
Then there's May, Barbara's friend. Today her sister phoned to say their eldest brother is about to shuffle of this mortal coil. Next there are two click of the mouse friends.
Wendy recently lost her father. Faye lost her brother and it seems her sister is also most unwell.

October the season of melancholy...