Thought for the Week: Connectedness
'Connectedness' by Betty Walters
Three trees stand in a row,
Separate but connected,
Two young beeches
In their glory of autumn
According to the eternal cycle of the seasons,
One ash, old, bare and bent
Involved in the eternal cycle of life and death.
A leaf falls from the beech,
Twists and turns as it slowly descends,
Revealing its rusty gold in the sunlight,
Deep bronzy red in the shadow.
Curved at the edges, boatlike,
It floats along the air’s wavelets,
Sinks,
And rests on the carpet of its former companions.
Once it was green and vibrant,
Fulfilling its vital task
Transmitting the sun’s energy to the tree.
Now it’s no longer needed,
But not useless, not dead.
As it decays in the earth,
Gradually by the mysterious processes of life
Its essence will pass back into the tree that bore it,
Giving of itself,
Completing the cycle.
My greentime is over, my chance of giving almost gone,
When the time comes to go, no longer needed,
May I fall like a leaf.
As my body disintegrates, my personality vanishes,
May that speck of the Light that was in me
Be re-absorbed into the Ground of my Being.
Thence may it seep into the massive, gnarled trunk of the world,
Percolate through its intricate branches,
And bring a spark of hope to a bent twig,
A gleam of love to a striving bud,
A flicker of joy to a trembling leaf.
Recently this poem was offered as ministry. On that particular Sunday, the Friend who spoke was concerned for a terminally ill Friend who lived directly above her in the same apartment block – as, of course, was the whole Meeting. During ministry, she told us that she thought about her dying Friend and neighbour constantly whilst watching the autumn leaves falling past her own window. Then she remembered ‘Connectedness’ written by our Friend, Betty Walters. The last time Betty’s poem was read to Meeting was nearly seven years ago at the poet’s funeral.
This contribution was sent by Reg Snowdon from Newcastle Upon Tyne Meeting.
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