A Leaf in the Fall

She had been waiting for this day to come
forever, but when it had finally arrived,
she was shocked that she couldn't stay calm.

Too soon, much too soon...let's forget the fire
for the moment and cool it down to
three days ago...

It was much cooler then, windy, too.
Unable to persuade their parents to move with them,
young leaves hurried to snap themselves free.
Blinded by their innocence, the leaves thought they were
always in control, leading the strong wind wherever they go.
When in truth, the crafty wind were
pushing them around, manipulating them all along.

Caroline didn't like it one bit. She thought it was wrong
of the wind to push the leaves around
just because they were young, just because they couldn't see,
so she picked up the rake trying to beat the wind away--
“Go away!” she yelled. And then they yielded
all their attempts to make her come inside the house--
because, apparently, she was working.

The wind didn't care much, but it was annoyed by
Caroline, she was another piece of leaf
that needed to be picked up, that needed to be dealt with--
if she stays, other leaves will follow her example
and make a big mess in the yard.
To the wind, she was nothing more than that;

Just another piece of leaf in the wind.
And then she was something more--
“Trick-or-treat,” said the little fairy princess.
The little princess had a magic wand
that has the ability to freeze
tears and sadness. So she went door to door, freezing
tears for candies--
the same look was always on all their faces:
If you can feel, why won't you respond?
If you have eyes, why can't you see Suffering?

And now as her house was burning in the wind,
she could feel the heat in her room;
it's only getting warmer and warmer inside
but it's still as cool as ever outside.

What she didn't want to admit was that
even with
this much heat, she still felt cold in her heart.
“What good would this do? Silly wind,”
she whispered to herself.
The wind heard.
But it cannot stop the fire, nor take it back,
once it had been set--the more we try to mend,
the more it will burn.

She will be burned, just like all the leaves who
refused to leave; burning alive,
they were already dead before the fire, yet
the burn will make them live again.

Fall, leaves, fall. At fall or not, all the leaves fall,
someday. It is okay to fall, she realized.
The wind was not evil, it was just taking the fall
for us. What's important isn't that we might fall,
that we might burn, it is how.

There was a piece of leaf who
fell, and danced in the wind. And when it burns,
it will provide people warmth.