Contemplation

I ponder a leaf
Still damp with dew
Translucent
Mottled and veined
I pinch the stem
Roll it in my fingers
It has jagged edges
It smells green
And brown
And damp
I can see my fingers
Behind it
through it
Once
You were part of a tree
One with it
You grew
Amongst siblings and cousins
On branches and vines
Like a thousand fingers
On a giant hand
You waved at air and birds
Before you fell
Now
You
Who had been a green
and yellow bud
Raised on the song of a million birds
And hundreds of warm dawns
Lay like a carpet with your peers
About your tombstone and cradle
Your giant parents are skeletons
And you
Become the soil