The Secret Life of Leaves

Written 11/27/05 for Literary Analysis. Inspired by Wallace Stevens's "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"

I
A green hand
Waving cheerfully
In bright, sparkling light

II
A house for an inchworm
A home for a spider
A roof for a bird

III
One individual
Lost
In a sea of conformity

IV
Leaves of rain
A reign of leaves
A rain of leaves
Remains

V
Fluttering color outside
A frosted window:
Nature's stained glass

VI
Green
to Red
to Orange
to Yellow
to Brown
to Dust

VII
Hanging limply, lifelessly
The last leaf
Refusing release

VIII
Must let go
Must surrender
Most start over

IX
Sometimes being means
For a time
Being absent

X
A speck of life
Wrapped in nothingness
Reaching out

XI
In one brief year
The leaf shows the life
Of all creatures

XII
A member of God's audience
That cannot speak
But when the wind of grace blows
It applauds