Madam, – The picture “Autumn Leaves” (Joe O’Shaughnessy, October 26th) was a joy to behold.
Over the past few weeks I have often stopped in my tracks to admire the colours of the changing leaves – “Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red”. I delight in childishly scrunching my way through the colourful clusters that litter our pavements and pathways. “The trees are in their autumn beauty”. And how arrestingly beautiful they are this year! Forgotten lines of poetry keep springing to mind, not least the words of Joyce Kilmer’s poem Trees: “Poems are made by fools like me but only God can make a tree”.
Your autumn picture was bursting with life, laughter, youthful exuberance and colour. It was magical! Despite all the doom and gloom of the current climate it served as a reminder that the world is still a beautiful place and that some of the best things in life are free. – Yours, etc,