Green

There are few things that are brightest before they cease to exist. Most popular being stars, but that isn’t anything extraordinary to mention, given that most humans are already aware of this phenomenon.

I would prefer to illuminate something of a more mundane existence, leaves.

Leaves, clinging to a branch in late October while dazzling the general public of the surrounding hills, are, understated. They remain relatively undetected. This is of course unless a victim of the chromatic dandruff scales the appendages it’s grasping onto. Allergies ensue and blame on the foliage, follows.

But for most of the year, the delicate, paper like objects, appear green, just like much of their surroundings. Until autumn. A time of year where they replicate a fierce fire. Bright oranges & reds engulf valleys and mountain sides. Morning commuters stretching their necks just to catch a glimpse of the spectacular.

Crisp air floods suburbia while pumpkins on front stoops and cornucopias with extreme lack of purpose find their way into homes. Trees dressing themselves in bright garments of red knit, stand tall over houses sectioned in groups of replication.

But as time ticks, the colors of these leaves fade. Less and less people are gazing upon them. Hours are no longer lent to fresh air but rather avoiding the outdoors as much as possible. The branches that were once filled with so much vibrancy and promise were now empty. At a glance you notice a homogenous grouping of brown and grey overtaking the once brightly decorated valleys. The sky seeming to have a white bed sheet draped across it, inhibiting any light or speck of blue to appear. Oppressing the landscape below.

It seems to me, that when the leaf is turning the final corner, bending toward the destination of saturation and gratitude. It may know deep down that after this chapter has finished, it will become drained entirely of its pigment. But as it falls the to ground, the earth swallows it up in a color once so familiar, green. Green, I believe, is the true color of us all. A color unafraid of a clean slate, a dye of invention. To fall, is to start over, and to start over, is to grow taller than ever before.