Leaves
Spring begins…
Leaves bud, new in their youth
Vulnerable to the cold
Of Winter departing
Beginning their lives in the light
They grow ever so slowly
Seeking the sun
They reach upward and outward
Strengthening every day
Then Summer arrives
Trees full of leaves
Strong and full-sized
Broad and densely packed
Then from the West
A storm on the horizon
Torrents of hail and turbulent winds
Leaves destroyed and blown away
The survivors hang on
Food for the insects
Some are diseased
Some fall away
But most of them stay
Green on the branches
Strong and durable
As they nourish the tree
Autumn sneaks in
At the tail end of Summer
The leaves feel a cold breeze
A hint of Winter to come
The leaves start to change
To hues of bright yellow
Red, orange, gold,
And then fade to brown
They start to detach
Falling one by one
Then by tens, then by hundreds
Until only a few remain
Those last straggler leaves
There since the Spring
Their destiny set
As they try to hang on
But all leaves must fall
The last survivor gone
All of them dissolve
Into the ground
And the next generation comes
After the tree’s long Winter’s rest
When the sun appears again
And gives the tree new life
What are we but leaves?
On a tree that is our country?
Our city, town, or even world?
As we pass through our year of life
Growing through the Spring of youth
Thriving in the heat of Summer
Fading in the cool of Autumn
Dying in the last days of Winter…
Waiting for the new leaves…
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