Leaf Lessons

Ripe and bright yellow,
Eager to take this morning’s
Quiet chill sunshine fully to heart,
Hundreds of leaves are diving,
Spinning, floating, tumbling
To earth, to rest, to death.

Some are languid, broadside, ambling
Left to right, even lingering in the
Red Japanese maple awhile.

Others plunge with serrated knife edge or
Point directly down and flutter around a
Determined, descending stem.

Some let go and fall every which way;
Some dance, swoop and flip.
A few drop like stones, impossibly dense, or
Spiral in perfect geometry.

Though complex, tenacious, and beautiful,
All will fall, today or perhaps tomorrow;
All will fall.

Look: I will be
the laughing, twirling, joyful one,
All the way to ground.