Gold is wherever you look – 
up the treetops, down in the moss. 
Be glad; enjoy your fortune 
while you can feel and see it – 
this luck won’t stay forever with us. 
 
These are the days 
when the aspen shines 
more brightly than the sun. 
 
These leaves are the lights; 
the aspen trees the guides 
on your path to winter. 
 
No more green; 
no need for shade. 
 
These last weeks of the mushroom season 
bright chanterelles have grown – 
after the rain, the wind, the unpleasantness – 
in unexpected places, in aromatic abundance. 
 
Recall when all is dark, cold, hidden: 
rustling light; fragrant gold. 
 

(c) Maria Ljungdahl 2006