The darkness of lengthening night
Drinks the green from the peach leaves
Leaving them yellow and waning
Cold, wet breath
Trembles these pendulous leafy dreams
Clinging to the memories of summer
Relishing the vigor of working together to create sweetness
They reminisce with sighs and whispers
Until the sun’s heat becomes too distant
For too long
And all they remember is the release of the peach stems
The plump sound of gravity
Claiming the fruits of their labors
For the earth
Do they resent the sun’s rest
The tilt of the earth
The trunk’s wisdom to draw sap into root?
Or do they give their greenness with loving surrender
Letting their grip grow thin
As they glisten for one last day
Taking on the colors of their beloved sun
And peach
For one last moment of sweetness?
Is it a pain or a pleasure
For that grip to finally release
Setting them flying in a flutter of moist wind
Twirling down to give every bit of their flesh
Back to the roots
Through the mouths and bellies of myriad creatures
Becoming nourishment
Instead of making it
Do they lose that sense of belonging
At any point along the way?
Is there a moment of terror in the letting go?
Do they feel lost? Alone?
Or do they feel the flutter of their yellow siblings
Falling beside them
Shuffling through the portal between life and death
Dissolving willingly into the flow of renewal
Whispering and sighing with each drop of rain
Washing each speck of summer dust
Each yellow molecule
Leaving behind a lacy skeleton of memory
Just for a moment
Before losing all shape and size
Becoming Earth
Or remembering that Earth is Leaf is Earth
That nothing is lost or gained
That ripe fruit is only one pause
One burst of sweetness
Amidst infinite explosions of sweetness
For the rich smell of rotting leaves
Dissolving in the mist
Amidst memories and anticipation of ripe peaches
Swells the heart
Into a yellow fuzzy juice-filled fruit
Pumping sweetness into the blood
Grateful for so many peaches during the summer
And enough days of no peaches
To become hungry for them once more
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