Lone Leaf Torn

Flaming leaves caress shared secrets as night
falls on a blanket of beginnings.
Wedged between clear past and foggy future,
sits the present perched at a peak 
- ready to drop.

A lone leaf torn between
the safety of the tree
and fellow leaves who've fallen.
Can he hold on? Or
must he too fall?

Against the wind -
fighting night and day,
clinging to the comfortable branch
'til wisp of wind grabs waning leaf.
A struggle ended.

The battle to hold on
lost 
in a descent of spinning color bright
against sound of sleepless night,
around and around, falling silently down.
Exhilaration flushes the leaf with red
as it dances to meet its comrades below.

Settled in peace at the place he had feared.
Not lost, but found
in giving in.