Life of a Leaf

Gold and white,

those beams of light

Peek through a leaf

and play hide and seek.

Rays dance

like candle flames

Slowly burning

them edges

That energy,

That heat!

Stages of life

it still lives.

Oh, that leaf!

When temperatures

gravitate,

nights are frostier

Paler it gets

Gloss of its green

is dead.

When torrid summers

recoil,

air is sans of its moist

Pigments drop the veil

Matte paints are seen

in spectrums of

lemons and tangerines

In umbras of

ochres and auburns

But its bronze is

nature’s finest gold

Ruffled by winds,

swaying with force

It surrenders at last

to kiss its own mud.

Cloaks that burnt sienna

With palettes of

amber and vermilion

Lays with its nurturer

parched and withered

Glass-like

transparency

Makes it thinner

than wafers

Fine, clear veins

that whisper stories

of love and grief.

Now that the leaf

comes a full life

its gift of beauty

is proclaimed

By the very earth,

who graces

its every ‘Spring’

and ’Fall’.