This service topic resonates deeply with me – years ago I found great comfort and solace after a difficult breakup, with two maple trees in my front yard. One day as I meditated on them, a poem came to me. I’m pleased to share it here. Thank you for bringing services to the community that enrich the spirit, feed our hearts, and connect us and teach us of the great unknowing.

Maple Leaves

I admire the dignity of the maple leaves, 

lifting their green palms to the sky in summer sun 

and turning silver backs to the north wind 

and bowing down to the earth in rain without moaning 

or pouting or expecting reward for being 

what they were born to be.

And in the fall when the coolness

comes and the life blood of the leaves

retreats down the trunk

through roots burrowed 

deep into the bosom

of the earth

and the leaves

blush and curl

and crumble—

they do not

as I might 

break down 

into despair–rather, 

in breaking down 

they feed the hungry ground– 

in breaking down–

they feed the hungry ground.