The last few dying leaves of autumn
Desperately clutching their sterile lifeline
Like a hopeful body preserved cryogenically
Refusing to give in to the inevitable
Season of death.
Congealed memories of
Long summers:
Warm breezes
Lifeblood
Flowing freely in every vein
Assuming the promise of forever
And the more distant memories of spring:
New growth
Bated breath
Each day savored
(A whole year in the distorted
Knowledge of the mature)
The youthful knowing that life is forever
Only to be lost one day
In the distorted knowing of the mature.
The heavy frost of late Autumn
Soon breaks the will
And the leaf is at the mercy of the winds–
Uncertainty
Isolation
Blowing aimlessly
Until the eventual fall to earth
Where it turns back into what it always was.
Yet one fine spring day
Somehow
Someway
Recalling
The youthful knowing that
Life is forever.
--Daniel Irwin Tucker
I was going to wait until late fall to post this, but since i use "leaves" and "Autumn " as metaphors, i don't think it really matters.