I was thinking of old friends today
And how many of them have slipped away.
Moved, got married, or stopped calling so much,
Found new friends, got busy, and just lost touch.
It reminded me of falling leaves.
Every autumn the leaves fall from the trees.
Some stay longer than others, but eventually
Each leaf must fall, I'm told,
Leaving the tree alone to face the cold.
Why is it that in the time of utmost need
The leaves would seek to leave the tree?
And when we need our friends around
We look and they cannot be found?
Of course these friendships come and go
And in the spring new leaves will grow.
But I prefer autumn friends of old
With crackling laughter and colors bold.
It saddens me now I must admit
How somehow, someway, I did forget
Laughing with old friends of mine
During summers when the sun would shine.
And then I thought of you.
That one stubborn leaf that won't let go.
That clings despite the winds that blow.
Fighting ice, and snow, and winter's stings
Hanging on right through till spring.
So I guess that's what you are to me - The very last
leaf to leave the tree.
I know it seems silly, but it's true. When I see that
last leaf... I think of you
A friend once said, "If the old leaves don't fall off in autumn, the tree won't be able to live and die rotten. It is the going away that make you realise how much others mean. Hence when spring comes, you shall definitely grow leaves new and green".
Is it always that way? Yes, for the tree, maybe! But for friends, relationships? Can we just grow new leaves? No.. I do not think so.. a leaf once gone can never be replaced!
If you are that last leaf to anyone, please don't go!
8 comments:
hmmm... good poem.
What if the leaf realizes though that the tree does not need it? Is it wise in that case for the leaf to fall off, instead of holding onto the tree?
The other way to look at it is this..
The tree is shedding the leaves, rather than the leaves falling off..
Wow! Where did you find this one?? Wish life was as predictable as the fate of a tree...
In the context of relationships, I think the tree is not able to hold on to the leaves - it doesn't want to shrug them off, it doesn't want to be left alone. But it doesn't know how to stop them from shedding - it's helpless, maybe by circumstances, maybe by it's own stupid mistakes, maybe just by fate or destiny. The point is, it doesn't want to let go - but is powerless to stop the leaves from shedding.
At the point of time, in the life of the tree, it desperately needs that one leaf to stay with it....
In the context of relationships, strictly speaking - it is infact upto the tree to be able to or rather to want to hold onto its leaves. And to be fair to the tree, it is upto the leaves as well!
The tree or the leaf when they are "alone" are "helpless". Together, I think they aren't. I believe it is completely upto the two people involved in the relationship to keep it going.
"Moving on" without the other is not always the only option. In fact, that is just an easy, convenient way out!
Thought about what you said in your last comment.
The point again is: What happens when spring comes, and the tree grows new leaves and becomes capable once again to hold onto these leaves? Now, does the tree need that one last stubborn leaf that remained with it throughout the cold winter? And if that last leaf realizes that the tree does not need it now.. should that last leaf fall off? Or should it continue to desperately hold onto the tree?
Don't know - I want to be neither the tree nor the leaf :)
Hey! Glad you still have this poem :)
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