Autumn leaves
shape-shift ceaselessly
every morning
every afternoon
Time stole their emerald youth
and repainted them red and orange
They quiver with every passing breeze
and engage in a dangerous dance

Autumn leaves
spin round and round
above the foreign barren ground
Dipping timidly into a new realm
while tired branches stretch and
stretch to harbour their fragile innocence
They stretch for all they are worth
but the leaves swirl too far out of their reach

Autumn leaves
settle on the trodden earth
as branches droop with the burden of trust
Blankets of white come as gifts from above
a rigid boundary between green and crimson
that lasts many months
until spring drifts in with the passing breeze
She gives rise to a new emerald kingdom
and autumn leaves shall dance again