Autumn is when nature quietly bids farewell, and time weaves with sorrow. In this period when colors shift from yellow to brown and green to orange, love finds a deeper meaning in the heart. Just as trees shed their leaves, lovers, in preparation for winter, experience their emotions more intensely, feeling both fragile and strong simultaneously. In the lines of Nazım Hikmet, love oscillates between union and separation. As he describes in his poem Saman Sarısı, the melancholy of autumn mirrors the internal contradictions of lovers. The sorrow in their eyes blends with the coolness in the air, creating a deep bond between the two hearts. This bond implies separations can sometimes be a form of union. Love is lived “like a tree alone and free, and like a forest in solidarity,” yet when autumn arrives, it sometimes falls and scatters like leaves. In autumn, love is often like the melancholy echoed in Sezen Aksu’s songs. In her song Sonbahar (Autumn), Sezen speaks to the side of love that loses to time: “In this autumn you left me, my love is as heavy as lead, yet time passes as swiftly as a bullet.” Love is heavy; as hearts in love yearn more for each other in this season, they also confront the fear of separation within them. Time slips away, but the sorrow in the lovers’ hearts becomes more evident with each golden leaf. In the cooling evenings of autumn, love is like a warm, comforting cup of tea. As in John Keats’ poem To Autumn, amidst the seasonal changes and cycles of nature, love nourishes the human soul. Keats praises the richness and abundance of autumn, while also recognizing it as a fleeting season. This adds meaning to love; perhaps love experienced in autumn is more intense than in other seasons because the awareness of its transience enhances the value of each moment. Another writer, Albert Camus, describes autumn as a season of inner transformation. “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower,” he says. Camus’s words reveal how love flourishes in autumn. The blossoming of love in autumn is like a new hope built on past heartbreaks. As trees shed their leaves, lovers may let go of the burdens of the past and cling to each other anew. However, the chilling winds of autumn might feel like harbingers of separation, but love deepens in this season. Aware of their losses and gains, lovers hold each other more tightly. Love in autumn is, in fact, a resistance to the cycle of nature. As trees shed their leaves, hearts overflow with love. The gentle breezes might be the words whispered between lovers, sometimes signaling a farewell and other times a new beginning.
Lovers sit side by side on a bench, watching time flow silently. As yellow leaves fall, each leaf becomes a memory. And these memories, like the scent of soil rising from the earth, render love eternal.
Resources:
(Ebru Er, 2020)
(Elise Dalli, 2015)
(Tuğba Özcan, 2018)