I Blew the Leaves Away

I blew the leaves away

I blew the leaves away today

They scattered and tumbled in front of me

Some took to the air trying to return to their perch,

While others held fast to blades of grass, happy with their location

They marched in front of me

A growing wave of brittle soldiers

On a calm green sea

Already dead but not knowing where they would rest

The branches above, so long their home, ignored them

Refusing to acknowledge that they were the ones that had made them beautiful

Even in their dying they had weaved a magnificent cloak of burnt orange and glowing yellow and fiery red

But even that had not been enough that the trees would hold them even a moment longer

Their curled and broken forms could only run from the roaring wind that chased them now

Pushing them on

There would be a momentary respite, the leaves trying to settle

But the gale would return, not content to have done enough

Until the leaves would cover ancestors that had come to the same spot to decay and disappear

And finally the deafening blast subsided

My lawn now nearly as green and neat as my neighbor’s, a foolish prize

I looked back to see a few leaves that had escaped the storm, huddled tight to the ground

And wondered if I should not have let them all lie