Autumn Leaves

I always thought that one of the best things that Art could do was to turn sadness into beauty. Alchemy. That kept me going for a long time, but as I start to get old I realize that everything beautiful eventually turns into sadness.

I sort of knew this all along, of course. Mark Twain told me so. But it's one thing to have someone (even a very wise man) tell you something, and another thing to experience it. Then I remembered the Navajo Beautyway chant:

In beauty may I walk

All day long may I walk

Through the returning seasons may I walk

...and I remembered that beauty is much larger, more powerful than anything in the human world.

With beauty before me may I walk

With beauty behind me may I walk

With beauty above me may I walk

With beauty all around me may I walk

In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk

In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk

It is finished in beauty

It is finished in beauty