Leaf

I watched a Leaf fall today
and wondered how it felt
as it let go… its Life

Was there fear when it broke free
from its very connection to Life…?
Its fall was gentle, nearly flying – before
finally coming to rest gently on the ground

In its Afterlife, it would feed the Earth
as it had given new air to the Sky

I imagined its first budding
and then unfolding to the Sun

It captured the Sun’s rays
and passed them through itself,
Seemingly just a servant,
destined to feed the Tree.

I realized that the Tree also
was a servant to the Leaf
pulling nourishment from below
and it too passed it through itself

Neither really had a…
greater importance
one touched the Sky,
and one touched the Earth

Life is what happened
in between the Sky and the Earth
a whole world, a whole Universe
Interconnected in ways ignored or unknown

Thank you Leaf
You reminded me to be grateful
in serving, in receiving
in all that touches me

~kenji