The Value of Losing Our Leaves

In my reading this week, I came across an excerpt from the poem "A Home in Dark Grass" by Robert Bly.

We did not come to remain whole.

We came to lose our leaves like the trees

The trees that are broken

And start again, drawing up from the great roots.

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His words spoke to me on so many different levels. They illustrate the cycle of life, the fact that nothing remains the same. We all have journeys to take, changes to experience, growth to let shape us.    

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Then as it relates to writing. We did not come to remain whole, to keep our words and our stories within ourselves. We came to lose our leaves like the trees, bloom in brilliant colors, but then let go of our stories, send them fluttering on the wind to distant places, beyond ourselves. Each time we start anew we draw up from our roots, from the things within us that strengthen us, and start over. Thinking of it in this way, as a cycle that repeats itself like the seasons within the perfect timing of God’s universe, gives me hope for those days when I finish a story and it feels like I’ve just used up my last idea. Ever.

I don’t worry in autumn when the leaves turn brown and crisp, that the trees won’t bloom again in spring. The resting phase of winter is necessary. In that same way, I’m learning to trust the writing process and to enjoy every season.

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Do you go through a "resting phase" with your writing, allowing ideas to strengthen and grow below the surface before you approach the page?