leaf
                         misshapen
                         shriveled once green
              donned vibrant red disguise
              to ward off lurking decay
             fallen tendon of skeletal oak
        hardened veins stand out from brittle flesh
                  dull brown age spots on blackened stem
             curled like death’s beckoning finger elasticity gone
                    your smallest pieces granular near dust
                          hearkened back unto your mother soil
                      tomorrow’s wind will hurl you
                         to another place
                           or unthinking footsteps
                            will grind you
                       into
                        no-
                                   thing-
                              ness
'