Autumn Foliage
The Hours Painted Crimson
As autumn deepens, the mountains quietly change their clothes. The leaves that have glowed green throughout the summer begin, almost imperceptibly, to turn red and gold. It is as though the trees were slowly revealing stories they had kept hidden in their hearts for a long time.
I walk along a mountain path. Dry leaves rustle beneath my feet, and the sunlight filtering through the branches feels unusually gentle. The crimson maples resemble flames dancing in a quiet fire, while the golden ginkgo leaves look like tiny coins holding the last sunshine of late autumn. Whenever the wind rises, the leaves dance in the air before settling softly upon the earth.
Suddenly, I stop walking. The trees show no sign of sorrow as they release their leaves. Instead, they display their most beautiful colors until the very last moment. Perhaps nature is teaching us a lesson about life: that we can remain beautiful even as we depart, and that letting go does not mean everything has come to an end.
In the distance, the evening glow spreads across the mountain ridges, and the last rays of sunlight gild the edges of the maple leaves. I watch a crimson leaf drift on the breeze and settle at my feet. I consider picking it up and placing it between the pages of a book, but then I change my mind. Some forms of beauty are more beautiful when we simply admire them and let them go than when we try to possess them.
Even as I descend the mountain path, autumn continues to shed its leaves slowly behind me.
秋の紅葉
紅に染まるひととき
秋が深まると、山は黙って衣替えをする。夏のあいだ、緑に輝いていた木々の葉が、いつしか赤や黄色に染まり始める。まるで、長いあいだ胸の奥にしまっていた物語を、一つずつ取り出して語り始めるかのように。
山道を歩く。足元では枯れ葉がかさかさと音を立て、木々の枝のあいだから差し込む日差しは、いつにも増して柔らかい。真っ赤な楓の葉は燃え上がる炎のようで、黄色い銀杏の葉は、晩秋の日差しをそのまま閉じ込めた小さな金貨のようだ。風が吹くたびに、木の葉は空中で舞い、やがて静かに地面へと降りていく。
ふと、足を止める。木々は葉を手放しながらも、悲しんでいる様子はない。それどころか、最後の瞬間まで、いちばん美しい色を見せてくれる。もしかすると、自然は私たちに人生の知恵を教えてくれているのかもしれない。去りゆくときでさえ、美しくあることができるということ。そして、何かを手放したからといって、すべてが終わるわけではないということを。
遠くの山並みには夕焼けが広がり、最後の陽光が紅葉の縁を黄金色に染めている。風に運ばれた一枚の紅い葉が、私の足元に舞い降りるのを見つめる。拾い上げて本のしおりにしようかと思ったが、やめておく。美しさというものは、手元に残すよりも、ただ眺めて見送るほうが、いっそう美しいこともあるからだ。
山道を下っていくあいだも、秋は私の後ろで、ゆっくりと葉を落とし続けていた。
가을 단풍
붉게 물든 시간
가을이 깊어지면 산은 말없이 옷을 갈아입는다. 여름 내내 초록빛으로 빛나던 나뭇잎들이 어느 날부터인가 붉고 노랗게 물들기 시작한다. 마치 오랫동안 가슴속에 감추어 두었던 이야기를 하나씩 꺼내 놓는 것처럼.
산길을 걷는다. 발밑에는 마른 잎들이 바스락거리고, 나뭇가지 사이로 스며드는 햇살은 유난히 부드럽다. 붉은 단풍은 타오르는 불꽃 같고, 노란 은행잎은 늦가을 햇살을 고스란히 담아 놓은 작은 금화 같다. 바람이 불 때마다 나뭇잎들은 허공에서 춤을 추다가 조용히 땅으로 내려앉는다.
문득 걸음을 멈춘다. 나무는 잎을 떠나보내면서도 슬퍼하는 기색이 없다. 오히려 마지막 순간까지 가장 아름다운 빛깔을 보여 준다. 어쩌면 자연은 우리에게 삶의 지혜를 가르쳐 주고 있는지도 모른다. 떠나는 순간에도 아름다울 수 있다는 것, 내려놓는다고 해서 모든 것이 끝나는 것은 아니라는 것을.
멀리 산등성이에는 저녁노을이 번지고, 마지막 햇살이 단풍잎의 가장자리를 황금빛으로 물들인다. 나는 한 장의 붉은 잎이 바람에 실려 발치에 내려앉는 모습을 바라본다. 그것을 주워 책갈피에 넣을까 하다가 그만둔다. 어떤 아름다움은 소유하는 것보다 바라보며 보내 주는 편이 더 아름답기 때문이다.
산길을 내려오는 동안에도 가을은 내 뒤에서 천천히 잎을 떨구고 있었다.
Haiku — A Whisper of Autumn / 秋のささやき（あきのささやき）/ 가을의 속삭임
English
Autumn mountains—
one crimson maple leaf
dancing in the wind.
Japanese
秋山や / あきやまや
紅葉ひとひら / もみじひとひら
風に舞う/ かぜにまう
Korean
가을 산이여,
붉은 단풍 한 잎
바람에 춤춘다.
About the Author
Prof. Dr. Young Choi (Editor-in-Chief) — Regent University
Full list of his K-GSP columns
Full list of his Books at Amazon.com
Young B. Choi is a Professor in the Department of Engineering & Computer Science at Regent University. He published 38 books with ‘Selected Readings in Cybersecurity’ (2018) (about 800 copies archived globally at university/college libraries around the world) and ‘Cybersecurity Applications and Artificial Intelligence’ (2023) available in seven major world languages. He proposed the world’s first global and universal telecommunications “Service Order Handling (SOH)” Model (T-SOH Model) (1995) with Dr. Adrian Tang. With this innovative research work, he received the IEEE NOMS ’96 Best Paper Award and became the first recipient of the Outstanding Contribution Award of the TeleManagement Forum in 1998. His research areas include Natural Language Processing-focused AI, AI-applied cybersecurity, network and telecom service management, and Korean studies on Gani Choi Rip’s Jeonggwan (靜觀: Quiet Contemplation) philosophy and Shilhak ( 實學: Practical Learning).
Suggested Citation
Choi, Y. B. (2026). Autumn Foliage: The Hours Painted Crimson. K-GSP Forum.
© K-Global Scholars and Professionals Forum. All rights reserved. 2026. Content published in the K-GSP Forum may not be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form without prior written permission from the K-GSP Forum, except for brief quotations with full attribution.