Poem

FallenThe leaves sure know how to die.They got it figured out all right.Lighting themselves on fireIn a last-gasp mass immolation,a conflagration of orange red yellowsplashed across the barren browns of autumn.The flickering embers of dying firesEveryone thinks it ’s a final flourish,A man in full near the end.He found his wayAfter so many twists and turns He found his wayAfter so many wrong turnsBut they ’ve been choking for weeks,Siphoned of life by the treesWhen the chlorophyll gets cut off.They ’ve already extracted all the fuel they needTo survive the long winter.Enough in nature is always enough.And so they just let go and fall;Gentle swaying downward de-loftingMeandering as the wind blowsQuilting the quiescent lawns below.It ’s nice for a whileBut everyone soon turns to goBack inside to their TV's and screens.The lawn service will come next weekTo dispose of the browning nuisance.The leaves wait until then to decay.Theleaveshave some couth.The leaves know how to die.Curled like rheumatoid fistsOff stage, when no one is looking,Desiccated thin potato crispsCrunching under your boots, beneath the snow.Fall gave way to winter and now no one cares.We got what we wanted out of them:Oxygen, removal of carbon dioxide,One sublime ride through the rural hillside.Look kids, I am showing you beauty.Look at them closely, kidsPay attention to the messages they leave.I still have an orange leaf in a box in the atticPressed between laminated sheets,Second grade science.V...

Source: Buckeye Surgeon - November 9, 2019 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs