Talisay - "Signature of autumn" in the tropics

Talisay or Umbrella Tree (Terminalia catappa) loses its entire crown during the amihan (cold months). The cooler the wind blows all the way from Siberia, the redder the leaves become before falling off the tree. 

Photos and Verse by Dr Abe V Rotor

Talisay signifies autumn in the Philippines 

I wait for a gust of wind
to shake you up and make you
a skeleton in the blue sky;
your nakedness is also mine
in the passage of time.

One by one your noble death
is proclaimed, each leaf a page,
falling in peace and dignity;
dying to tell the world the story
of the greatest mystery. ~