Leaves fall gently, settling in place
Like the lines of your face,
Like the curve of your smile
You rest, gazing out at the pile

Of leaves, where the children play
Young, full of vigor, unaware of the way
Their bones will bend under countless years
Of love and loss, laughter and tears

Like yours have, your beauty gone
Washed away by dusk and dawn.
Until all thats left is a hollow shell
A shadow of the past, when all was once well

You embrace your lonesome journey's end
Solitude; you have nobody to send
You into the eternal clutches of rest, charmed
As Death welcomes you into his arms.