WINTER LEAF

BY

NINA FULFORD

I spied its strange perfection,
Upon the moulding ground,
While standing in reflection,
When no one was around.

*
A skeleton of tracery;
Its bare bones set in grey.
A shadow of what used to be
So green last summers day.

*
I gazed on it with wonder,
For in it I could see,
The way of life and ponder,
What was in store for me.

*
In spite of time and weather,
The patterns still the same;
Its essence gone forever,
yet the memory does remain.

*
I vowed as I was leaving,
This lesson I would learn:
There is no use in grieving,
The green cannot return.

*
I see that life is fleeting,
And we must leave behind
For someone else�s meeting-
Some bones that they can find.