The Leaves

Leaves grow and flourish

High, high in the canopy

Dangling and dancing on the boughs

Turning their sunlit faces to the sky

Drinking the ocean of daylight

In, in, in…

When the sky darkens,

They do not hide,

They make their noise the louder.

When the sky threatens,

They do not quaver,

They turn their underside

Up, up, up

To the darkness,

Up to the pelting pain

Up to the storm.

They show their souls

And are rewarded with pain

With water

With life.

Life is tied with strife.
This the leaves know.

But, the leaf is not the tree.