The last, loveliest smile

I’ve been enjoying a few days’ off at the moment. My parents are cruising in the Greek Isles (lucky them!) which means I become the day time dog walker of you know who. I am happy to go wherever Boris takes me, he is in charge after all. And with the beautiful October sunshine in full swing, I am happy to follow his lead, stopping along the way to capture a few scenes. Like a lot of you, I love autumn and I feel I take some of my best photographs at this time of year.

The light, the leaves, the long shadows, the lovely colours…no wonder so many writers and poets have been inspired over the years to capture in words the beauty, the joy and the melancholy too  of autumn.  One of my favourites  is by William Cullen Bryant, an American poet who described autumn as ‘the year’s last, loveliest smile‘…a perfect description, don’t you think?  I also love the wistfulness of Emily Bronte’s ‘Fall, leaves, fall’… (I’ve included a verse at the end of this post). And then there is the beautifully evocative  ‘Now is the Time for the Burning of the Leaves‘ by Laurence Binyon. You can practically smell the smoke and hear the fire crackle when you read the first verse.

Like many of you too, I’m inspired by nature and by those who are themselves inspired to write so beautifully about it.  Up until I started this little blog of mine, I’d never quite appreciated this connection before … how nature inspires us in so many ways . And since I can’t put things quite so eloquently myself , I’d thought I’d share a few photographs instead that hopefully capture some of the season’s spectacle, it’s golden illuminations, before the autumn leaves disappear …

Do you have a favourite nature poem? If so, feel free to share in the comments below. And in the meantime, have a lovely Sunday x.

I’ll leave you with a few words from Emily Bronte…

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away

Lengthen night and shorten day

Every leaf speaks bliss to me

Fluttering from the autumn tree

Taken from ‘The Seasons The Nation’s Most Treasured Nature Poems’ which is available here