I am a leaf

A leaf tells of an adventure downstream

I am a leaf floating on the current.

Other leaves float alongside me.

We float separately but some are nearer than others.

Some move faster and overtake me.

I take my time.

I move faster than others,

making quicker progress to reach those who have passed me by.

We’re heading towards the sea, a very long journey.

However, I know not where I am destined

as many of us will reach a different end.

From time to time another leaf falls from a tree and joins us.

Trees were our birthplace

where last Spring we leafed into bright green clothing,

vivid, vibrant, rustling, fluttering in the breezes.

But as Autumn arrived we changed our apparel,

yellow, orange, red, brown, as trees discarded us.

Very few of us will meet the mighty ocean.

Most will be pummelled into the river bank mud

to disintegrate and be transformed into river sediment.

The rain, snow and ice could batter us to death before we’ve achieved our ageing process.

Some of us are in better shape than others.

Some of us look quite elegant and beautiful floating in style.

Others seem to be clutching at the surface of the water with leafy tenacity. 

Others have already drowned and lie at the bottom of the river in swathes.

It does not matter how we present ourselves in life.

We all have the same fate.

We all look the same once we have perished.

We journey on to enjoy the view and as we gently drift,

look down into depths of unknown territory, darkness and murky blackness,

to study the reflections of the trees who still cling onto fellow friends.

Some trees never let our cousins fall from their symbiosis remaining evergreen.

We though are free, abandoned, rejected, call it what you will.

We are made to endure a journey – an adventure downstream.

We may be lucky, we may suffer.

We accept our fate, for now we are gladly carried to what we will become.