TALISAY and AMIHAN Indicators of Autumn in the Tropics (3 parts)

TALISAY and AMIHAN  

Indicators of Autumn in the Tropics

(Amihan is when the weather in the tropics becomes cooler and 

the leaves fall off the trees. - avr)

"How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and 

color are their last days." - John Burrows

Dr Abe V Rotor

Part 1 - The Beginning of Autumn

• 

Onset of Autumn in acrylic by A V Rotor 

The leaves are still green but autumn is here,

litter on the forest floor turns red and yellow,

and cracks and tickles under my feet bare.

Oh, how seasons change pure and mellow!   

Part 2 - Ode to the Talisay

- the Autumn Tree in the Tropics

 

Talisay (Terminalia catappa)

You bring the autumn where there is none;

only monsoon have we, wet and dry;

you lose your crown before the rains come;

and at harvest time, you weep and cry.

Your ancestors left home eons ago

as the continents drifted apart;

divided by the cold and warm sea

surviving them here in this part.

You carry their genes of four seasons,

deciduous without winter snow;

emerging with new crown in summer,

and amihan* is your greatest show.~

Part 3 - Embroidered Leaf of the Talisay

                      

Tattered Christmas Tree in autumn, 

     deciduous to the Season's call;

Nature is reborn, the world rejoices, 

     creatures all, big and small.

            NOTE: Photos taken by the author at the Living with Nature Center, 

                       San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

 *Season of cool winds, Siberian High, October to December 

**Terminalia catappa, also known as Country Almond, a large 

                            tropical tree in the leadwood tree family, Combretaceae,