Don't you think the leaves,
green and twisting in the wind,
yearn to lose this camouflage?
Yearn to show their true colors?
 
Yet they keep themselves
in their viridescent aprons
preparing meal after meal
with the summer sun.
 
Their family of phloem cells
carrying food to their cambium
their roots, busy grafting with the roots
of neighboring trees.
 
But now, in autumn, the kitchen
closes.  Acorns ready to be born
to a new world.  The leaves
can finally relax.  Let go of the green
& let their flashy colors flair.

 © by Mary Ray Goehring.
Used here with the author's permission.