The evergreen needles of the red pines are quietly surrounding the maple leaves, and the moss-covered stone arrangement on the island is modestly accentuating the vivid, fiery hues of the autumn foliage.
The chilly, northern wind will soon fade these radiant leaves, causing them to scatter bit by bit. Finally, their flaming colors will be extinguished completely by the long, gloomy winter coming on.
Autumn leaves, with their vivid display of peak color followed by the inevitable fall, have long been regarded as a symbol of "Mono no aware" (the pathos of nature) in the traditional Japanese sense of beauty.
This ephemeral beauty deeply resonates with the Japanese perception of impermanence, in which the most splendid moments of our loves and lives always include the beginning of final decline.
