-Brian Mendonca
Everyday
I pick a leaf
from the earth.
Caress it
smell it
feel it,
Trace my finger
along its striations,
trace the number
of divisions and lines,
Turn it over
see the difference
of colour
-usually
of a paler hue.
The leaf
is free -
the beauty
of the earth.
In a few hours
it will be consigned
to mulch.
As the day wears on
it will shrivel, shrink
and atrophy.
The leaf gives me hope
The gladness of breath
Perfect in form
shape, symmetry
The leaf
is my life
free and unbidden
Until I am gathered
let me
run with the wind.
(Goa
17 June 2019)
-----------------------------------------
Pix of almond tree (Terminalia catappa) with front and reverse of leaf in senescence. The tree sheds its leaves in late Summer. Before falling, the leaves turn pinkish-reddish or yellowish-brown. Pix taken by Brian Mendonca, in Nuvem, Goa on 17 June 2019.
EverydayI pick a leaf
from the earth.
smell it
feel it,
Trace my finger
along its striations,
trace the number
of divisions and lines,
Turn it over
see the difference
of colour
-usually
of a paler hue.
The leaf
is free -
the beauty
of the earth.
In a few hours
it will be consigned
to mulch.
it will shrivel, shrink
and atrophy.
The leaf gives me hope
The gladness of breath
Perfect in form
shape, symmetry
The leaf
is my life
free and unbidden
Until I am gathered
let me
run with the wind.
(Goa
17 June 2019)
-----------------------------------------
Pix of almond tree (Terminalia catappa) with front and reverse of leaf in senescence. The tree sheds its leaves in late Summer. Before falling, the leaves turn pinkish-reddish or yellowish-brown. Pix taken by Brian Mendonca, in Nuvem, Goa on 17 June 2019.
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