The Tree

Eyes filled

Saturated reds

Fluttering, dripping

Ancient stars falling

Losing one palmate leaf at a time

Ephemeral

Carnelian

Lichen splotched branches

Reach delicately skyward

In prayer, thankful

A gray breath loosens

Small crimson hands

Graceful dance to earth

Awaiting death

Awaiting decay

Ground smattered with

Remnants of loosed tendrils

Blood-red flakes rest until

Crushed by a careless paw or

Unappreciative foot

I let my eyes soak in

Fiery beauty as

Deciduous things

Bleed color

Foliage dies

Transformed

Deep russet velvet

Becoming crumpled,

Dead brown

Subsumed by earth

Perishing to become

Food

Moldering to become

Shelter for

A microcosmos of

Insects and invisible things

In stillness, leaves fall

Give up

Struggle, no more

Surrender to

What can’t be undone

Is surrender good?

Can we find grace in things

We can’t undo

Or control?

Must we hold tight?

Must we soldier on?

Can we release

And find freedom in that?

My Japanese maple is not an evergreen

It’ll never be compelled

To hold its color

It dies and is reborn

Each fall

When a breeze kicks up

Leaves rain down

Losing color and vitality

Next week I might find

Vestiges of

Astonishing reds

A skeleton,

Without its flaming hair

Only appendages reaching

For the Sun

Preserving energy

Resting dormant

Waiting for the

Warmth of spring

I need rest too

And dormancy

Evergreens prepare

Bark thickens

Pinecones loosed

A release of

Unnecessary burdens

Like falling leaves,

I need to float

And rest

Conserve energy

For what’s coming next