This afternoon, like every afternoon, I drove over my favorite hill. Saint Louisans, if you head west it’s on the Page Extension before the Maryland Heights Expressway. You know it: suddenly the river valley spreads out full of clouds.
I hunted for a photo to show you scattered Dots, and eventually got on the (virtual) right track with Google Maps Webcam. I wish the day they filmed Page West hadn’t been so grey.
But, today was also a grey autumn day, which made this tree across from the bank so much brighter:
When I topped the hill on Page I was singing along with Romans 10:9 from the new Mountain Goats album. And, I was thinking about a Twitter exchange I had with Julie, who cautioned me the singer might not be as religious as you would think from a CD of songs all titled after Bible verses.*
I was considering how much that pleased me, and why. Did I secretly like a little to be mocked for my beliefs? If it was Christian Rock, wouldn’t I have felt pressured for not singing along with enough devotion?
I listened to:
“Look for the sign of Daniel, consider the clues /
Wait as long as i have to for Good News /
Wake and rise and face the day and try to stop the day from staring back at me /
Busy hours for joyful hearts and later maybe head out to the pharmacy”
Despair and hope, or is that hope and despair? “You’d think I’d know,” I thought, then realized what I like about the song so much is I’ve been on both sides. Joyous and devoted, but then later despairing.
Winter doesn’t make me appreciate spring, but spring makes me appreciate autumn. The joyous pure blue skies were lovely in spring, but a vibrant spring just makes you appreciate the complex muted dying colors of autumn that much more.
*This article says the song, Romans 10:19? The one I liked so much I sang along? About suicide. OF COURSE. I was still in the “these words sound interesting,” phase; I liked the contrast between despair and blind hope, but I hadn’t gotten the suicide message yet.
7 responses to “Autumn Light”
What’s it like to murder someone? I fear I will die without ever knowing.
Just this morning I was thinking about photographing a pretty tree. Coincidence! Except, of course, that you actually did it.
Don’t you hate it when your naive enjoyment of something gets destroyed by other people’s interpretations? Like Sia’s Breathe Me is about cutting herself – and, dammit, the poem Stopping by a Wood is about suicide? Sez who?
Hattie – I was briefly concerned about you, then I double-checked my suspiscion and yes it does refer to the music. but now of course I have “Whats it like to murder?” on my list of google searches.Tami – It’s the peak tree week here in Saint Louis.Big Dot – Oh god I love your image. Is it a dodo? A penguin? Some odd NZ bird?
I enjoyed those pics. 🙂
1) That horizon is kinda making me dizzy.
2)Once I was at a gallery looking at a photography show, and there was this one beautiful picture of a woman swimming underwater with gorgeous blue and greens and all flowing hair and clothing, very ethereal and dreamy and pretty, and this woman standing behind me said to her friend: Well, clearly, it’s a rape scene.
.75 – Every day the trees here look better.Gaoo – Bleh! Rape scene? Maybe there were subliminal image like they used to put in ice cubes.