A Leaf Poem by RIC BASTASA

to a non-poet a leaf is just a leaf
and when it falls
on the ground, there is nothing but a
fall

but to us who claim this art
a leaf is not just a leaf
but it can be you or i
falling and when i reach the ground
you feel the heart of the leaf
beating

for its falling, its failure as a leaf,
its surrender to a certain death
its claiming a portion of this earth
to rest and be part of this
world, it rots, and it speaks some line
before it rots

a poem, a valediction on an anthill,
an eulogy of the other leaves that
fell before the great falling

it can be a story of humanity written
on the lines of its face, it will have flesh
on its layers, some mouths on its
seams, and it will tell too

about the tree where it comes from
how the clouds drifted so close to its stalk
how the sun kissed it on top of everything

a leaf is a world. just as a poem is.
we live inside it. Through it. Even
outside it. Even in circles.

we make understanding so complicated.
yet we are so simple as you see us.