Take The Time

One day when the fall started;
when the birds gathered to fly South,
when the wind was cool,
the first leaf fell from the tree.

I was watching that leaf fall.
It was orange-red in color,
and big, like a man's hand.

As the leaf fell, the wind blew softly.
Every time the leaf floated towards the ground,
the wind blew and lifted it up into the sky.
The leaf floated down gently

I walked over to the tree
and watched that leaf floating around.
When the leaf rested on the ground,
I walked over and picked it up.

I sat back in a chair
with the leaf in my hand.
Five months ago it was a bud on that tree.
Then that bud opened
and a leaf started to grow.
It grew in the sun, wind and rain.
It grew into a big leaf.

And now the leaf is dead.
Once it fluttered when the wind blew,
and now the season is ended
and the leaf is dead.

As I looked at the leaf,
 it made me think about life
and what it means.
How long do I have?
As the seasons pass by, so lives pass;
bugs, plants and frogs.

If we do not take the time
to look at a leaf,
to look at the plants,
to listen to the frogs;
If we don't take the time,
we will lose out in life.

Charles J. Breunig