the life cycle of a leaf

Have you ever wondered about the life cycle of a leaf? It begins in the cold damp of the spring as a tight bud on a tree, close knit, trying to keep warm as it shivers on the branch. Then as the sun begins to thaw the earth and life bursts forth from the barren and cold overwintered ground, the leaf too breaks forth from its cocoon and spreads its points to the sky. There it basks in the glow of the season, soaking up sunshine and rain for life, its only purpose to provide shelter from the storm and shade from the heat of the day. Too soon the air takes on a chill, the dew begins to lay cool and slick on the grass and the sun no longer beams as brightly. The leaf prepares to let go of its lifeline, to break free from the bonds that held it high in the sky. In so doing, in a last vivid attempt to be something amazing, it sheds its summer green for a stunning shade of copper, gold, ochre, red. And after this feat of strength, after all this energy expended, it is finally loosed from its earthly grip by a passing wind and floats gently, softly to the ground. If its lucky, it will catch the eye of some passerby who may pick it up and preserve it as a memory. More likely it will just become one of many littering the ground, providing a satisfactory crunch underfoot when people walk by and, in the end, will be absorbed into the earth to help propagate the cycle of life when winter melts again into spring.

The color in the mountains has not yet begun to really shine through, but a morning at the lake proves that even a little color can be just enough for show.