Leaves

My leaves fall singly. I watched each one grow and now the time has come to release them. There is no use holding on, for they will go anyway.

They fall and their weight is relieved. I grow up out of their reach as they drift to the earth. They drift to the earth to pile around my base.

The children come and stomp among my leaves. They shuffle their feet as they walk so they can hear the swish swish against them. They remember Bambi and become him. They are his father, the great buck who knows the way of the forest. They hide under my fallen friends and run from the hunters. They trick the dogs by circling and then they escape. They set their friends free from the traps of man and then go on with their lives. They are the answer to the silent plea and then they disappear once more into the mist.