The leaf
Brilliant green.
Made of the stuff of
Behemoth spinning galaxies
Growing stars in the endless night.
Soft and thin and beautiful
Shot through with green veins like a hand
Marking time with the passing of the seasons.
You grow from a shoot
In the warm spring sun
And decorate the tree
With the bright color of spring.
Maturing into a well-designed mechanism:
You feed your giant tree
With sweet sugar
And life-giving energy.
Made from the warm sun.
In the process of photosynthesis –
A marvel of science
Replicated by man
So that it provides energy for our great cities.
Birds nest in your foliage,
Squirrels gather their food.
You provide shade
In the heat of the African sun.
And as time passes slowly
You begin to shed your deep green
And burn alive with beautiful red
That fills my eyes
As it brings peace to my soul.
The fall comes
Cool breezes breaking the stifling heat of summer.
And you blow in the soft breezes
Turning waste in the atmosphere
To precious, life-giving oxygen.
Your red deepens
As your end draws near
Shining brilliant colors for all
Until your final moments.
You turn the color of dust
Slowly weakening your grip on the tree
You depart without an announcement
And float gently, silently, down
A whisper on the wind.
There in the dirt, you break down
And provide precious nutrients
For the next year,
Completing an endless cycle
Existing from the dawn of time.
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