Leaves

  I collect them all as they crunch beneath my fingers, brittle shrapnel from their edges falling softly at my feet. They were all so beautiful last year. Like pageant queens on display to the world waltzing down the cat-walk with dramatic flair. Their life was so short, cut coldly by the winter now approaching.

  “Why?” I beg of the leaves that lie dead and brittle-brown in my hands. Could they not see how grand it all was last year? How good we had it? How happy I was surrounded by their colors?

  But seasons change. That’s how it must be for that’s how it always was. And if it was not always that way, would we perhaps grow bored and tired of this old earth? If it failed to renew itself and redeem itself once again in our eyes?

  So seasons change and just like these leaves, friendships change too. And as you grasp them, clutch them, bring them close to your heart, they drift away on the wind, joining new territories, called away by the promising whisper that lies on the breeze.

  We must learn to move on. Just like the trees, we must accept the changes that constantly battle our bark. A lifetime of seasons is ahead and while few things remain constant, so many simply fall away and we cannot stop them.

  The winds of change whip around my face, brushing my cheeks with the promise that all is well. I take their word for it.  With one last lingering glance, I un-pry my fingers from their tight hold on the leaves in my hand. Tossing them into the air, I watch them swirl, tangoing together towards freedom.

  Some may come back to me, stay again for the season. I will welcome them whole-heartedly with open arms.

  But I smile as I remember that in another season there will be new leaves again.