, Japan

Fire and water

The calm and the fury

By Kenny Mah

There are very few people here. Some on the shore, a couple on those hideous swan boats on the lake. The waters are placid but they won’t stay that way for long. Autumn brings strong winds, a harbinger of gales come winter.

But that season won’t come for another month yet. We have weeks to savour the serenity of these leaves, these flames on the trees, as the breeze twists its way around the branches.

They hang low over the lake, fire over water. The calm that must give way to fury. There is plenty of the latter everywhere these days but we must remember: the fury will dissipate, the calm will return.

Such is the way of seasons.

We take in the beauty of autumn, the brevity of now. Fire and water and winds that won’t blow us down, however strong they prove to be.